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| | US Market |  | | NYSE | AMEX | Dow Jones | Nasdaq |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Thursday, with stocks likely to see further upside after climbing to new record closing highs in the previous session.
Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to a report from payroll processor ADP showing private sector employment jumped by much more than expected in the month of December.
Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, with some traders likely to stay on the sidelines ahead of the release of the Labor Department?s more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
The report is expected to show an increase of about 190,000 jobs in December following the jump of 228,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.1 percent.
Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday, adding to the gains posted on Tuesday. With the continued upward move on the day, the major averages climbed to new record closing highs.
The major averages finished the day firmly in positive territory. The Dow rose 98.67 points or 0.4 percent to 24,922.68, the Nasdaq advanced 58.63 points or 0.8 percent to 7,065.53 and the S&P 500 climbed 17.25 points or 0.6 percent to 2,713.06.
The continued strength on Wall Street came as upbeat data added to recent optimism about the economic outlook.
A report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed growth in manufacturing activity unexpectedly accelerated in the month of December.
The ISM said its purchasing managers index rose to 59.7 in December from 58.2 in November, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the manufacturing sector. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 58.1.
"This indicates growth in manufacturing for the 16th consecutive month, led by strong expansion in new orders and production," said Timothy R. Fiore, Chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed a bigger than expected increase in construction spending in the month of November.
The Commerce Department said construction spending climbed by 0.8 percent to an annual rate of $1.257 trillion in November from a revised $1.247 trillion in October. Economists had expected spending to rise by 0.5 percent.
Stocks remained positive following the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting.
The minutes of the December meeting showed most participants reiterated their support for continuing a gradual approach to raising interest rates.
Almost all participants agreed with the decision to raise rates by 25 basis points at the meeting, although a couple wanted to leave rates unchanged until the actual rate of inflation had moved further toward the Fed's 2 percent longer-run objective.
While low inflation is seen as transitory, some Fed members were concerned "that inflation might stay below the objective for longer than they currently expected."
Meanwhile, the Fed said it raised its economic projections due to the massive tax reform bill passed by Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump.
"Overall, Fed officials re-affirmed at this meeting that they anticipate raising interest rates three times in 2018, matching the tightening in 2017," said Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics.
He added, "But we still anticipate that a slightly faster than expected rebound in core inflation will mean we eventually see four rate hikes in 2018."
Oil service stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 2.4 percent. With the jump, the index reached its best closing level in over eight months. The rally by oil service stocks came amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil.
Significant strength was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 2.4 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. The advance lifted the index to a record closing high.
Computer hardware, semiconductor, internet and biotechnology stocks also saw considerable strength, contributing to the upward move by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
On the other hand, airline, utilities, and gold stocks bucked the uptrend that was shown by the broader markets on the day.
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| | U.S. Economic Reports | | | | CADUSD | Oil | Gold | Allbanc |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | |
A report released by payroll processor ADP showed private sector employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of December.
ADP said employment in the private sector surged up by 250,000 jobs in December after climbing by a downwardly revised 185,000 jobs in November.
Economists had expected an increase of about 190,000 jobs, matching the job growth originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, a separate report from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims unexpectedly inched higher in the week ended December 30th.
The report said initial jobless claims edged up to 250,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 247,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 240,000 from the 245,000 originally reported for the previous week.
At 11 am ET, the Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its report on oil inventories in the week ended December 29th.
Crude oil inventories are expected to drop by 5.3 million barrels after falling by 4.6 million barrels in the previous week.
The Treasury Department is also due to announce the details of next week?s auctions of three-year and ten-year notes and thirty-year bonds at 11 am ET.
At 1:30 pm ET. St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard is due to give a presentation on the ?U.S. Economy and Monetary Policy? at the ?Meltzer's Contributions to Monetary Economics and Public Policy? seminar in Philadelphia.
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| | Stocks in Focus |
Shares of Rite Aid (RAD) are moving notably lower in pre-market trading after the drugstore chain reported weaker than expected third quarter revenues and a drop in comparable-store sales.
Department store operator Macy?s (M) is also seeing pre-market weakness despite reporting strong holiday sales and raising its full-year earnings guidance.
On the other hand, shares of Zumiez (ZUMZ) are moving sharply higher in pre-market trading after the specialty apparel retailer reported a jump in December sales and raised its fiscal fourth quarter guidance.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) may also move to the upside after Wells Fargo upgraded its rating on the company?s stock to Outperform from Market Perform. |
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| | Europe |
European stocks are extending gains from the previous session, with rising oil prices, relative strength in the dollar and encouraging economic data from the U.K. and euro area helping underpin investor sentiment.
While the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index has edged up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are jumping by 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
Better-than-expected U.S. car sales data has helped lift automakers, while banks are also trading broadly higher.
Meanwhile, French alcoholic beverage company Remy Cointreau has come under pressure after Investec downgraded the stock. Department store chain Debenhams has also slumped in London after a profit warning.
On the economic front, the Eurozone private sector expanded the most since early 2011, driven by a near-record expansion of manufacturing and the strongest growth in the service sector in over six-and-a-half years.
The composite output index rose to 58.1 in December from 57.5 in November, final data from IHS Markit showed, with the index reaching the highest level since February of 2011.
U.K. house prices increased at a slightly faster pace at the end of 2017, data from Nationwide Building Society showed. House prices grew 2.6 percent year-on-year in December, slightly faster than the 2.5 percent increase seen in November.
Another report from Markit Economics revealed that the U.K. services PMI jumped to 54.2 in December from 53.8 in November.
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| | Asia | | | | USDCAD | USDEUR | USDGBP | USDJPY |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | |
Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Thursday, although gains remained modest outside Japan, where the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index jumped over 3 percent on its first trading day of the New Year.
Underlying sentiment was supported by rallying oil prices, encouraging service sector data from China and the record closing highs overnight on Wall Street.
China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 17.40 points or 0.5 percent to 3,386.50, extending gains for the fifth straight session. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 175.53 points or 0.6 percent to 3,0736.48.
The latest survey from Caixin showed that the Chinese service sector expanded at an accelerated pace in December with a PMI score of 53.9, up from 51.9 in November.
Japanese shares rallied on the first trading day of 2018 as the yen remained relatively weak on global growth optimism and oil prices surged to their highest level since December of 2014.
The Nikkei 225 Index ended up 741.39 points or 3.3 percent at 23,506.33, as traders returned to their desks after a long New Year?s break. The broader Topix Index closed 2.6 percent higher at 1,863.82.
Honda Motor climbed 3.2 percent after it teamed up with Alibaba Group to jointly develop connected cars. Semiconductor company Tokyo Electron soared 6.2 percent, mobile carrier SoftBank jumped 4.3 percent, lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rallied 2.5 percent and oil firm Inpex advanced 3.4 percent.
The manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in December, and at an accelerated pace, the latest survey from Nikkei showed today with a manufacturing PMI score of 54.0, up from 53.6 in November.
Australian shares closed modestly higher after U.S. stocks hit record highs on Wednesday. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index inched up 6.70 points or 0.1 percent to 6,077.10, while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended 0.2 percent higher at 6,185.40.
Healthcare stocks surged after the federal government approved exports of medical cannabis products. Shares of Cann Group surged up more than 35 percent, Bod Australia jumped 39.5 percent and Hydroponics Company soared 30.8 percent.
Banks ended mostly lower, while energy stocks such as Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search surged 3-4 percent after crude oil futures rose above $61 a barrel for the first time since December of 2014. The big miners ended on a mixed note.
On the economic front, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group showed that the Australian services sector expanded at an accelerated pace in December with an index score of 52.0, up from 51.7 in November.
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| | Commodities |
Crude oil futures are inching up $0.14 to $61.77 a barrel after surging up $1.26 to $61.63 a barrel on Wednesday. An ounce of gold is trading at $1,315, down $3.50 compared to the previous session?s close of $1,318.50. On Wednesday, gold rose $2.40.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 112.81 yen compared to the 112.51 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.2072 compared to yesterday?s $1.2015.
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