Investing.com – U.S. Futures pointed to a flat opening bell on Thursday as investors look ahead to jobs data and U.S. President Donald Trump is set to announce tariffs later in the day.
The S&P 500 futures inched up three points or 0.12% to 2,726.50 as of 6:41 AM ET (11:41 GMT) while Dow futures decreased 19 points or 0.08% to 24,776.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was up 25 points or 0.37% to 6,950.25.
Trump is expected to make a formal announcement of steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports at 3:30 PM ET (20:30 GMT). Markets have been on edge since last week, as investors worry the tariffs could create a trade war. The European Union has announced that it will retaliate in a tit-for-tat tariff on American exports like cranberry sauce, Levi jeans, and bourbon.
Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Co (NASDAQ:ESRX) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, surging 17.00% after health insurer Cigna (NYSE:CI) offered to buy the firm in a $67 billion deal. Meanwhile semiconductor Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) increased 2.12% while telecommunications firm Nokia (HE:NOKIA) Corp ADR (NYSE:NOK) inched up 0.34%.
Elsewhere bank stocks were down, with Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria SA (NYSE:BBVA) decreasing 0.97% and Barclays (LON:BARC) PLC ADR (NYSE:BCS) down 0.42% with Deutsche Bank AG (DE:DBKGn) NA O.N. (NYSE:DB) falling 2.14%.
In economic news, initial jobless claims data comes out at 8:30 AM ET (13:30 GMT), which investors will pour over ahead of nonfarm payrolls data on Friday. Investors will also be looking to the European Central Bank, which is set to deliver its monetary policy decision at 7:45 AM ET(12:45 GMT).
On the earnings front, Kroger (NYSE:KR), Dell Technologies Inc (NYSE:DVMT) and American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) are some of the firms expected to release their earnings results on Wednesday.
In Europe stocks were mostly up. Germany’s DAX fell 37 points or 0.31% while in France the CAC 40 increased 15 points or 0.30% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 41 points or 0.18%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained four points or 0.13% while Spain’s IBEX 35 rose three points or 0.04%.
In commodities, gold futures were down 0.17% to $1,325.40 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.28% to $60.98 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.29% to 89.82.