WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Thursday, extending the advance seen late in the previous session. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.5 percent.
Nvidia (NVDA) may help lead the markets higher, as the AI darling has turned higher over the course of pre-market trading is currently jumping by 1.5 percent.
Traders initially reacted negatively to Nvidia's fiscal third quarter results, which were released after the close of trading on Wednesday.
Nvidia reported better than expected third quarter earnings and revenues, but some traders expressed concerns about slowing revenue growth and a quarter-on-quarter decline by gross margins.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report unexpectedly showing a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended November 16th.
The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 213,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 219,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 220,000 from the 217,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected dip, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 209,000 in the week ended April 27th.
Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said regional manufacturing activity softened overall in the month of November.
Not long after the start of trading, the National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release its report on existing home sales in the month of October. Existing home sales are expected to increase to an annual rate of 3.93 million in October after falling to a rate of 3.84 million in September.
The Conference Board is also due to release its report on leading economic indicators in the month of October. The leading economic index is expected to dip by 0.3 percent in October after declining by 0.5 percent in September.
After seeing weakness throughout much of the session, stocks recovered in the latter part of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels before eventually ending the session narrowly mixed.
The Dow ended the day up 139.53 points or 0.3 percent at 43,408.47, while the S&P 500 closed little changed, up just 0.13 points at 5,917.11.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 21.32 points or 0.1 percent at 18,966.14 but staged a notable recovery attempt after tumbling by as much as 1.4 percent.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.9 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.5 percent, although China's Shanghai Composite Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index are both up by 0.4 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are jumping $1.24 to $69.99 a barrel after falling $0.49 to $68.75 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after surging $20.70 to $2,651.70 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are climbing $17.40 to $2,669.10 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 154.11 yen versus the 155.44 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0536 compared to yesterday's $1.0544.
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