Markets on Wall Street drifted higher early Thursday in search of their first gains of the new year.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.1% before the bell, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved 0.3% higher.
With earnings season still weeks away from kicking off, investors will have their eyes on more data from the Labor Department. Thursday brings the government’s weekly jobless claims report, which represents the number of U.S. layoffs in a given week. On Friday, the more comprehensive jobs report will give investors and economists and more granular look at the labor market.
The Federal Reserve began its fight against inflation nearly two years ago, raising its main interest rate to its highest level in two decades. The job market and economy in general have mostly held up in the face of higher interest rates and appear headed for the elusive “soft landing” the Fed was aiming for.
Traders are largely betting the Federal Reserve might first cut interest rates in March. They are putting a high probability on the Fed cutting its main rate by least 1.50 percentage points during 2024, according to data from the CME Group. The federal funds rate is currently sitting within a range of 5.25% to 5.50%.
Even if the Federal Reserve pulls off a perfect landing to shimmy away from high inflation without causing an economic downturn, some critics also say the stock market has simply run too far, too fast in recent months and is due for at least a pause in its run.
Elsewhere, the mood was somber in Tokyo as the market reopened from the New Year holidays with a moment of silence instead of a celebratory New Year’s ring of the bell after a major earthquake Monday left at least 77 people dead and dozens missing.
Dark-suited officials bowed their heads in a ceremony that usually features women clad in colorful kimonos. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.5% to 33,288.29.
In other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended unchanged, at 16,645.98 and the Shanghai Composite index sank 0.4% to 2,954.35.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.4% to 7,494.10. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.8% to 2,587.02. India’s Sensex, however, climbed 0.7%.
Germany’s DAX gained 0.1%, the CAC 40 in Paris also was up 0.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 77 cents to $73.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped $2.32 a barrel on Wednesday as worries flared over the risk that the Israel-Hamas war might spread to other parts of the Middle East.
Brent crude, the international standard, added 68 cents to $78.93 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 144.20 Japanese yen from 143.29 yen. The euro cost $1.0955, up from $1.0922.
Stocks fell Wednesday on Wall Street as the slow start to the year there stretched into a second day.
The S&P 500 lost 0.8%, as did the Dow. The Nasdaq composite led the market lower with a drop of 1.2%.
___
Source: post
