Here are the key events and economic data that investors and traders are monitoring on Thursday.
First at 8:30 a.m. ET, the Labor Department will release the number of new claims for unemployment benefits in the previous week. The forecasts are for 231k, up from 228k the prior week. Continuing claims are expected to be 1.375 million. The continuing claims touched a 50-year low of 1.306 million on May 21.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve at 8:30 a.m. ET will release its index of manufacturing activity for Pennsylvania, Delaware and Southern Jersey. Data is forecasted to show a slight rebound in October (to -4.5/-5.0), from -9.9 remaining in the contraction zone for a second consecutive month.
In Real Estate, the National Association of Realtors is expected to report that sales of previously owned homes dropped 2.1% to an annual rate of 4.70 million homes.
The Conference Board’s Leading Economic index for September is one of the key events, which will be released at 10 a.m. ET, with analysts looking for a decline of 0.3% from August.
During the third quarter earnings season, as of today, almost 10% of the S&P 500 companies have reported financial results thus far.
AT&T (T), American Airlines (AAL), Dow Inc (DOW), Nucor Corp. (NUE), Philip Morris (PM), CSX Copp. (CSX) are among the popular companies that are reporting today.
Yesterday, Tesla’s third-quarter earnings came mostly in line, and Elon Musk said that expects the company to reach the capitalization of Saudi Aramco and Apple combined.
Netflix rallied yesterday on a strong Q3 earnings report.
Wall Street finished lower yesterday amid fears of a slowdown across the globe and rising inflation pressures. Yesterday the S&P 500 failed to penetrate the 24-day moving average as the sellers come back aggressively after midday. As of writing in the futures markets, Nasdaq is 0.57% lower at 11,023, the S&P 500 is 0.40% lower at 3,681, and Dow Jones futures are 0.31% lower at 30,398.
European and UK markets
In France the Business Climate in Manufacturing was reported at 103, topping the expectations for 101 in October. DAX index slides lower today after yesterday’s rejection at the 50-day moving average (12,946). Strong support for the DAX index stands at 12,374 the 20-day simple moving average and the low from October 16. The first resistance for the index awaits at 12,805 the 50-day simple moving average.
GBPUSD continues lower for one more day, now down 0.27% at 1.1186 against the USD after yesterday’s U.K. 10.1% inflation figure year over year for September, which is a 40-year high. FTSE 100 index is trading today 0.12% lower at 6,917.
Forex
Japanese Yen is under selling pressure and briefly today the USDJPY reached $150.08 for the first time in 32 years.
EURUSD consolidates around the 20-day moving average at $0.9781. If the pair breaks below then it might test $0.9718 the low from October 16.
USDCAD is 0.11% lower at $1.3714 after Canada’s annual inflation rate, came up to 6.9% in September beating the analyst’s expectations.
Nikolas has been involved in the finance industry for over fifteen years spanning across Europe and USA with a depth of knowledge and experience within many aspects of the financial markets. Nikolas gained several years experience with some of the Europe’s leading Brokers, as equity analyst, and trader managing accounts for both Private and Corporate Investors. He enjoys both the fundamental and technical aspects of trading focusing on stock markets and all FX majors. Currently, Nikolas provides analysis and comments to online financial publications. Educational background in Economics (BSc), and Finance (MSc).
