Following the sharp pullback seen in the previous session, stocks are likely to move back to the upside in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a notably higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 177 points.
The upward momentum on Wall Street comes on the heels of a rebound by Chinese stocks, with the Shanghai Composite Index surging up by 5.8 percent as authorities unveiled fresh support measures.
In a bid to curb crashing prices, China's securities regulator banned senior management and investors who own stakes in businesses exceeding 5 percent from selling their shares for next six months.
China's central bank also said it would provide sufficient liquidity to China Securities Finance Corp., the state-backed margin finance company.
Additionally, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said it would encourage banks to support companies' share buybacks by offering them collateralized loans.
Early buying interest may also be generated by optimism about a deal between Greece and its creditors after the debt-laden nation promised to implement pension and tax reforms to win fresh aid.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told European parliament that he would submit a detailed reform plan to the Eurozone later today.
However, the U.S. Labor Department recently released a report showing another unexpected increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended July 4th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 297,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level of 282,000.
The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to dip to 276,000 from the 281,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected increase, jobless claims rose for the third straight week, reaching their highest level since hitting 327,000 in the last week of February.
Among individual stocks, shares of PepsiCo (PEP) are likely to see early strength after the beverage and snack maker reported second quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates. The company also raised its forecast for the full year.
Drugstore operator Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) may also move higher after reporting better than expected third quarter earnings and raising its full-year guidance and its quarterly dividend.
On the other hand, shares of Alcoa (AA) may move to the downside after the aluminum giant reported second quarter earnings that came in below analyst estimates.
After seeing a significant rebound over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside on Wednesday.
The major averages ended the session sharply lower, not far off their worst levels of the day. The Dow tumbled 261.49 points or 1.5 percent to 17,515.42, the Nasdaq plunged 87.70 points or 1.8 percent to 4,909.76 and the S&P 500 plummeted 34.65 points or 1.7 percent to 2,046.69.
The pullback dragged the Dow down to a five-month closing low, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at their worst levels since March and April, respectively.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region rebounded on Thursday after seeing early weakness. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.6 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged up by 3.7 percent.
The major European markets are also shown strong moves to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has jumped by 1.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are up by 2.2 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $1.81 to $53.46 a barrel after sliding $0.68 to $51.65 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is currently trading at $1,164.30, up $0.80 from the previous session's close of $1,163.50. On Wednesday, gold rose $10.90.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 121.44 yen compared to the 120.71 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1026 compared to yesterday's $1.1077.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com