By Saumya Vaishampayan
U.S. stock futures rose Thursday amid gains in European equities
and calm trading in bond markets.
S&P 500 futures gained 11 points, or 0.5%, to 2106. E-mini
Dow futures advanced 100 points, or 0.6%, to 18115. E-mini
Nasdaq-100 futures added 30 points, or 0.7%, to 4453. Changes in
stock futures don't always accurately predict moves in the stock
market after the opening bell.
European stocks rose, with France's CAC 40 up 0.6% and Germany's
DAX advancing 0.7%. Government bonds in Europe and the U.S. were
mostly stable after a selloff in recent weeks. That selloff, which
pushed yields higher, marked a turnaround from earlier this year
when the European Central Bank's bond-buying program helped boost
bond prices to record highs.
Treasury prices rose slightly Thursday, pushing the yield on the
10-year note down to 2.267% from 2.283% on Wednesday.
Crude-oil futures inched down 0.5% to $60.18 a barrel.
"It seems like some of the reversals that we've seen--oil
rising, rates moving up--are a bit more stable so far this morning,
and that's helping" support markets, said Michael Arone, State
Street Global Advisors' chief investment strategist.
"It's a little bit of no news is good news from that
perspective," he added.
Most stocks fell marginally Wednesday. The Dow slipped less than
0.1% to 18060.49 and the S&P lost 0.64 point to 2098.48.
This month, the S&P 500 has gained 0.6% and the Dow has
advanced 1.2%, through Wednesday's close. The S&P and the Dow
are up 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively, in 2015.
Stock futures remained higher after further evidence of a strong
labor market and persistently low inflation.
Jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 264,000 in the week ended May 9,
the Labor Department said. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street
Journal had expected 273,000 new claims.
Separately, the producer-price index for final demand fell 0.4%
in April from March, the Labor Department said. When excluding the
volatile food and energy categories, core prices fell 0.2%.
Economists had expected both overall and core prices would increase
0.1%.
In other markets, gold futures slipped 0.2% to $1216.20 an
ounce.
The euro gained 0.6% to $1.1418, rising above the $1.14 level
for the first time since late February.
In corporate news, Cisco Systems Inc. said net income in its
fiscal third quarter rose 12% on revenue that increased 5.1%. In
February, Cisco had projected revenue would rise 3% to 5%. The
company projected current-quarter results in line with Wall Street
estimates. Still, shares fell 0.9% premarket.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
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