The stock market looks set to rise after the recent rebound. Early trading indications suggest that the S&P 500 futures are rising marginally by 0.4 points. A positive outlook for interest rates seems to be the key driver behind market optimism. Such optimism is also fueled by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's recent statement in Congress that interest rates could be cut later this year.
Despite Powell's call for greater assurance that inflation is slowing, the market sentiment remains upbeat about a possible rate cut in June. The announcement did not seem to affect the reactions on the futures market following the fresh batch of U.S. economic data. According to the Labor Department, the tally for initial jobless claims has remained the same as the upwardly revised figure for the week ending March 2nd.
The initial jobless claims figure remains at 217,000, unchanged from the revised figure of the previous week. Experts had predicted this stagnation, with figures in line with the 215,000 initially reported for the previous week.
The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit swelled in January due to a significant rise in import value. The trade deficit rose to $67.4 billion in January, an increase from December's revised $64.2 billion. Economists had predicted a widening of the trade deficit to $63.5 billion from the $62.2 billion initially reported for the previous month.
The rise in the trade deficit was due to a 1.1% jump in the value of imports, reaching $324.6 billion. Meanwhile, export values slightly increased by 0.1%, totaling $257.2 billion.
The Labor Department's separate report indicates that labor productivity increased by a steady 3.2% in the fourth quarter, while the rise in unit labor costs decreased to 0.4% from 0.5%.
Following a significant setback at the beginning of the week, stocks returned to positive territory on Wednesday. While not yet achieving their recent record highs, the major indexes still finished the day positively. Notably, the Nasdaq increased by 0.6%, the S&P 500 rose by 0.5%, and the Dow Jones edged up by 0.2%.
Asian-Pacific stock markets displayed mixed results on Thursday - Japan's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index experienced drops of 1.2% and 1.3% respectively, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index rose by 0.4%. On the other hand, major European markets all made gains, with France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX, and the UK's FTSE 100 increasing by 0.5%, 0.4%, and 0.2% respectively.
In commodity trading, after a $0.98 increase to $79.13 a barrel on Wednesday, crude oil futures are down $0.40 to $78.73 a barrel. Gold futures, after a rise of $15.60 to $2,141.90 an ounce in the previous session, are trading higher by $10.30 at $2,168.50 an ounce.
On the currency exchange, the U.S dollar is trading at 147.62 yen, as compared to 149.38 yen at the previous New York close. Against the euro, the dollar stands at $1.0879, slightly lower than yesterday's $1.0899.
