Wall Street starts on a mostly negative footing

Despite expectations of a mixed open, the main indices on Wall Street turned mostly lower on Thursday morning despite some positive jobless claims data.

In the first minutes of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.48% at 29,255, while the S&P 500 declined 0.33% to 3,560. The Nasdaq was the positive outlier, rising 0.16% to 11,805.

The mostly downward trend in the markets came in spite of US jobless claims data for the week to November 7, which showed 704,000 Americans had filed for unemployment, well below predictions of around 743,000 but still at elevated levels.

The fall is the fourth consecutive week of declines in jobless claims, indicating that at the very least the rate of job losses is night speeding up in the US.

“The dip in initial jobless claims to a new pandemic low is welcome, but claims remain above the 665,000 peak recorded after the crash of September 2008, and the downward trend is slow.  We think claims are more likely to rise than fall further across the remainder of the year, given the damage being done by the Covid third wave, which is now triggering a patchwork of new/re-imposed restrictions on activity and gatherings. Demand for discretionary services like restaurants, hotels and travel appears to be falling outright, and it’s not clear that strength in the goods economy will provide a complete offset”, said analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

8.00am: Wall Street heads for mixed start

The main indices on Wall Street are heading for a mixed start of Thursday as the momentum over the vaccine news earlier this week continues to wobble.

US futures are expecting the Dow Jones Industrial Average to open lower while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq should start on the front foot.

Markets on both sides of the pond enjoyed a stellar run after the vaccine news by Pfizer and BioNTech, but “all good things must come to an end” says Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA Europe.

“Indices in Europe have enjoyed gains of 15-20% in a little under two weeks, while those in the US have had to settle for a more modest 10-15%, held back by the tech sector.”

Meanwhile, the heads of the Federal Reserve System, European Central Bank and Bank of England will take part in a panel discussion at the ECB Forum on Central Banking which could show their intentions for after the pandemic.

“The BoE last week played its hand, increasing its bond buying program by £150bn which is intended to see them through to the end of next year,” Erlam noted.

“The Fed and ECB have provided an extraordinary amount of stimulus this year but they’re expected to follow the BoE, Reserve Bank of Australia and Reserve Bank of New Zealand and ease further next month.”

“Today may provide some insight into the tools available to them during the next stage and how much more we can expect from them, particularly the Fed in the absence of a fiscal response.”

Four things to watch for on Thursday:

• There will be a big reporter on the earnings calendar with media titan Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) due to deliver figures for its fourth quarter
• Also in the diary is conferencing and networking software firm Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which will report its earnings for its first quarter
• Meanwhile, investors will be eyeing the macro calendar for US inflation data for October. The inflation rate is expected to edge up to 1.5% for the month from 1.4% in September
• Also in focus will be initial jobless claims figures for the week to November 7. The figures are expected to show 743,000 Americans filed for unemployment, down slightly from 751,000 in the previous week

Story by ProactiveInvestors