Investing.com - Wall Street futures pointed to a flat open on Thursday after stocks marked a fifth-straight record close a day earlier as investors looked ahead to some key economic reports.
The blue-chip Dow futures edged down 2 points, or 0.01%, by 6:58AM ET (11:58GMT), the S&P 500 futures slipped 1 point, or 0.03%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures managed to advance 5 points, or 0.10%.
As of Wednesday’s close, the S&P 500 had closed in positive territory for five consecutive sessions. Markets would have to go back to June 1997 to find a six-day run that beat the current winning streak, though some investors remained concerned about the dizzying heights that U.S. equities have reached.
President Donald Trump showed his enthusiasm for recent record highs in stocks in his first tweet of the day on Thursday.
“Stock market hits new high with longest winning streak in decades,” he tweeted, adding that there was a “great level of confidence and optimism - even before tax plan rollout!”
Meanwhile, market participants looked ahead to several economic reports. At 8:30AM ET (15:30GMT), investors will digest weekly jobless claims, housing starts and building permits for January and February’s Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index.
Ahead of the data, the dollar broke an 11-day winning streak on Thursday, falling back against the euro, yen and the basket of currencies that measures its broader strength after hitting its highest in a month a day earlier at 101.75.
Hawkish comments by Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Janet Yellen combined with better-than-expected U.S. inflation and retail sales data earlier this week boosted prospects of a March interest rate hike from the Fed.
Fed fund futures priced in around a 22% chance of a rate hike in March, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, up from less than 10% at the start of the week. Odds of a June increase was seen at around 72%.
Fed vice chairman Stanley Fischer noted Thursday that he expected the labor market to strengthen further and said in the interview on Bloomberg Television that inflation was moving towards the 2% target.
Fischer further repeated the idea that rate hikes would be gradual though he refrained from specifying how many there would be.
Outside of stocks, demand for safe-haven assets, such as gold and U.S. Treasuries, was boosted on Thursday, as investor appetite for risk abated and caution appeared to set in the markets.
Gold rose to an intraday high of $1,240.25 a troy ounce, the most since February 9. It was last at $1,239.00, up $5.90, or 0.48%.
Meanwhile, U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields slipped to 2.474%, after climbing to a three-week high of 2.524% on Wednesday.
In company news, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) gained more than 1% in pre-market trade as revenue in the blue-chip’s security business, which offers firewall protection and breach detection systems, rose 14% to $528 million, beating analyst forecasts for $519.1 million.
On the downside, shares in TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) looked set to sink on Thursday as the online travel company disappointed on both the top and bottom line. The firm had traded down more than 5% in after hours trade Wednesday.
Time (NYSE:TIME) could also see downside after the media company’s earnings-per-share (EPS) came in 3 cents below estimates and revenue also missed.
Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) produced mixed results with the fast food chain’s EPS under consensus by a penny at $0.08, but revenue settling at $309.9 million, $2.2 million above forecasts.
Amid a handful of earnings also scheduled before the bell Thursday, Avon Products (NYSE:AVP), Dean Foods (NYSE:DF), Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK), Encana (NYSE:ECA), Hyatt (NYSE:H), Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE:LH), Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA), and PG&E (NYSE:PCG) would report earnings, while the likes of Digital Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:DLR), NorthWestern (NYSE:NWE), Nu Skin (NYSE:NUS), Republic Services (NYSE:RSG) and Truecar Inc (NASDAQ:TRUE) will release numbers after the close.
Meanwhile, oil prices moved higher on Thursday shaking off record crude and gasoline inventories in the United States reported a day earlier.
OPEC supply cuts helped to support the market, while cartel sources cited by Reuters said the reduction could be extended or deepened at the May meeting if oil stocks are still too high.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.66% to $53.46 by 7:01AM ET (12:01GMT), while Brent oil traded up 0.77% to $56.18.
Elsewhere, European stocks declined, heading for their first drop in eight sessions, on concern the longest rally since July 2015 went too far.
Earlier, in Asia, markets ended mixed, with the Shanghai Composite in China closing up around 0.5%, while Japan's Nikkei slumped 0.5%.