Stock futures are pointing to a solid move to the upside Thursday morning, as the markets are digesting a bigger than expected decline in weekly jobless claims levels. The major index futures are all in positive territory, with the Dow futures up by 52 points.
Market sentiment has been elevated by a recently released report from the Labor Department showing that initial jobless claims fell to 451,000 in the week ended September 4th from the previous week's revised figure of 478,000.
Economists had been expecting jobless claims to edge down to 470,000 from the 472,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Also on the economic front this morning, the Commerce Department said that the trade deficit narrowed to $42.8 billion in July from a revised $49.8 billion in June. The trade deficit had been expected to narrow to $47.3 billion from the $49.9 billion originally reported for the previous month.
In global economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the Australian jobless rate unexpectedly declined to 5.1 percent in August from 5.3 percent in July.
On the corporate front, McDonald's (MCD) announced global comparable sales growth of 4.9 percent in August.
The fast food giant said its U.S. comparable sales increased 4.6 percent for the month, while comparable sales in Europe rose by 2.2 percent in August due to strong performances in the U.K. and Russia that were slightly offset by France.
McDonald's comparable sales in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa rose 7.8 percent, with Japan, China and Australia leading the way in sales.
After the markets closed for trading in the previous session, Men's Wearhouse (MW) said that its second quarter profit rose 8 percent from last year, helped by higher sales and improved margins. The company's quarterly earnings and sales came in above analysts' expectations. The company also provided an upbeat outlook for the third quarter.
Stocks rose by solid margins on Wednesday amid some relief buying following news of a continued albeit slower U.S. economic recovery as seen by the Federal Reserve and solid demand for Portugal's bond offerings.
The Dow gained 46 points to end at 10,387, the Nasdaq advanced by 20 points to 2,229 and the S&P 500 rose by 7 points to 1,099.
Overseas, stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region ended mostly higher on Thursday. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.8 percent.
The major European markets are also moving higher by varied margins. The French CAC 40 Index is up by 1.2 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index are up by 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
Among currencies, the U.S. dollar is down against the euro, trading at $1.2741, while it is up against the pound at $1.5423. Versus the yen, the dollar has slipped to 83.80 yen.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are up by $0.37 at $75.04 a barrel, while gold futures are up by $1.10 at $1,257.20 an ounce.
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