Wall Street Might Open Slightly Positive

Major economic announcements will be the highlight on Thursday. The Weekly Jobless Claims, Durable Goods Orders, and Fourth Quarter GDP will get special attention. Earnings results are also of interest today.

The tensions in the Middle East region and its impact on oil future prices are closely monitored by investors.

Asian shares finished mostly up, while European shares are trading lower. Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open slightly positive.

As of 7.35 am ET, the Dow futures were up 4.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 3.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 27.75 points.

The U.S. major averages eventually ended Wednesday’s session mixed. The Nasdaq rose 55.98 points or 0.4 percent to 15,481.92 and the S&P 500 inched up 3.95 points or 0.1 percent to 4,868.55, the Dow fell 99.06 points or 0.3 percent to 37,806.39.

On the economic front, Durable Goods Orders for December will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 1.0 percent, while it was 5.4 percent in the prior month.

The Fourth quarter GDP will be revealed at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for an increase of 2.0 percent, while it was up 4.9 percent in the prior quarter.

The International Trade in Goods (Advance) for December is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $88.5 billion, while the prior revised figure was $89.3 billion.

The Jobless Claim for the week is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 200K, while it was up 187K in the previous week.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for December will be released at 8.30 am ET. In the prior month, the index was up $0.03.

The Retail Inventories (Advance) for December will be released at 8.30 am ET. In the prior month, the inventories were down 0.1 percent.

Wholesale Inventories (Advance) for December is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a decline of 0.2 percent, while it was down 0.2 percent in November.

Asian shares finished mostly higher….