U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street Thursday after plans to enhance Europe's bailout fund comfortably passed a key vote in Germany. Investors also weighed data on U.S. jobs and second quarter gross domestic product.
On the economic front, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday that US real gross domestic product for the second quarter was revised to an increase of 1.3 percent annualized from the earlier estimate of a 1.0 percent increase.
In another report, the U.S. Department of Labor said said that for the week ended September 24, 2011, new applications for unemployment benefits dropped by 37,000 to 391,000 claims. This marks the lowest level since April, 2011. The 4-week moving average was 417,000, a decrease of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 422,250.
Ahead of the opening bell, Dow industrial average futures were trading higher by 0.82 percent, or 90 points ,to 11,066. Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.86 percent, or 19 points, to 2,238; Standard and Poor's 500 futures were trading higher by 0.83 percent, or 9.50 points, to 1,158.25, today.
Hot Stocks of the Day: AMD, AZZ, XRTX, NOK
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) were trading lower by 10.89 percent to $5.48 in pre-market trading on Thursday. The company cut its third-quarter sales forecast, citing manufacturing issues that limited the availability of supplies of its Llano chips. The company now expects sales to rise 4 percent to 6 percent from the second quarter, compared with a previous outlook that had called for an increase of 10 percent, plus or minus 2 percent.
AZZ Inc. (NYSE: AZZ) is scheduled to report second quarter FY 2012 financial results after the closing bell Thursday. Analysts expect AZZ to report earnings of $0.76 per share on revenue of $115.87 million. AZZ last traded at $38.82, down 6.28 percent, on Wednesday.
Xyratex Ltd. (Nasdaq: XRTX) a data st! orage te chnology services provider, is scheduled to report third quarter FY 2011 financial results on Thursday, after the closing bell. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $0.18 per share on revenue of $351.16 million. XRTX last traded at $8.91, down 1 percent, on Wednesday.
Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) said Thursday it will cut around 3,500 jobs in its manufacturing and location-services units as part of its ongoing plan to cut costs. The company said it will shutter its manufacturing plant in Cluj, Romania, by the end of 2011, affecting around 2,200 jobs. NOK is trading higher by 2.52 percent to $5.69 in pre-market trading Thursday.
Global Markets: FTSE, CAC40, DAX, Nikkei 225, Straits Times, Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite Index, BSE 30
Asian markets closed mostly higher today. Singapore's Straits Times closed higher by 0.26 percent, or 6.96 points, to close at 2,708.13; India's BSE 30 closed with gains of 1.53 percent, or 252.05 points, to 16,698.07; Japan's Nikkei 225 closed with gains of 0.99 percent, or 85.58 points, to 8,701.23; and China's Shanghai Composite closed down by 1.12 percent, or 26.72 points, to 2,365.34. Hong Kong's Hang Seng remained closes on Thursday.
The European indexes were trading mixed mid-day Thursday. Britain's FTSE 100 was trading lower by 0.66 percent, or 34.45 points, to 5,183.18; Germany's DAX was trading lower by 0.14 percent, or 8.02 points, to 5,570.40; and France's CAC40 was trading higher by 0.12 points, or 3.55 points, to 2,999.17.
Oil above $81 mark ahead of Europe debt fund vote
Ahead of the opening bell, crude oil was trading higher by 0.21 points, or 0.26 percent, to $81.42 per barrel. Gold stood at 1,610.00, down 6.10 points, or 0.38 percent on Thursday.
In the currency market, the euro was trading higher by 0.62 percent to 1.3611 against the U.S. dollar. The dollar was trading higher at ��76.6950, up 0.22 percent against the Japanese yen. The British pound is trading ! higher b y 0.45 percent to $1.5642 against the dollar on Thursday.On Wednesday, Wall Street closed lower. The Dow Jones industrial average closed with losses of 1.61 percent, or 179.79 points, to settle at 11,010.90. The Nasdaq ended down by 2.17 percent, or 55.25 points, to 2,491.58. Standard & Poor's 500 ended lower by 2.07 percent, or 24.32 points, to 1,151.06.
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