Wall Street was poised to open slightly lower on Thursday after a moderate rise in jobless claims sparked worries about the health of the labor market, while cautious investors kept an eye on the
Middle East for any escalation in hostilities.
A Labor Department report showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits was 225,000 for the week ended Sept. 28, compared with an estimate of 220,000, according to economists Reuters polled.
Odds that the U.S. central bank will trim rates by 25 basis points at its November meeting now stand at 64.5%, up from 50.7% a week ago, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
Focus now turns to Friday's nonfarm payrolls data for the month of September.
Rate-sensitive heavyweights took a hit, with Tesla dropping 1.57%, Apple edging down 0.61% and Alphabet slipping 0.57% in premarket trading. Yields on Treasury bonds inched higher after the data was released.
Investors have been wary for the last two sessions as they contemplated the scale of Israel and the United States' response to Iran's recent attack on Israel. The CBOE volatility index, Wall Street's fear gauge, hovered at more than three-week highs at 19.74.
"We'll see some cautiousness due to two factors: the war headlines that continue to impact the equities market and of course, tomorrow's unemployment data," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist, Spartan Capital Securities.
"It's safe to say that we'll probably have a mixed market session today as investors' cautiousness rises ahead of tomorrow's key macro data of the month."
Dow E-minis were down 119 points, or 0.28%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 10 points, or 0.17% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 58.75 points, or 0.29%.
The Institute for Supply Management's survey on service sector activity, which makes up the majority of the U.S. economy is due at 10 a.m. ET.
U.S. stocks have rallied for much of the year, with the benchmark S&P 500 confirming a bull rally and logging gains in eight of the previous nine months on expectations of lower borrowing costs.
Tech stocks have led the charge on the prospect of their earnings getting a boost from artificial intelligence integration.
Investors will also assess comments from Fed policymakers Raphael Bostic and Neel Kashkari later in the day. Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said on Wednesday that sticky inflation could limit the magnitude of further interest rate cuts next year.
Meanwhile, a workers' strike on the East and Gulf coasts entered its third day. Morgan Stanley economists said a prolonged stoppage could raise consumer prices, with food prices likely to react first.
Among premarket movers, oil stocks such as Occidental Petroleum and Exxon Mobil edged up 0.30% and 0.39%, respectively, although crude prices rose more than 1%.
Levi Strauss slid 11.6% after the company said it was considering a sale of its underperforming Dockers brand and forecast fourth-quarter revenue below expectations.
Constellation Brands dropped 1.9% after posting second-quarter results. - Reuters
