US pre-open: Futures firmly in the red ahead of Yellen's speech

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - US stock futures turned south on Thursday, ahead of a widely anticipated speech from Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open approximately down 102 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq (NasdaqGS: NDAQ - news) are set to begin the session 13 and 34 points lower respectively.

All eyes on Yellen Yellen will address the University of Massachusetts Amherst at 2200 BST in what will be her first speech since the US central bank opted against hiking interest rates last week.

"Investors don't know what to make of the market landscape at the moment, with the indices lurching between losses and gains throughout the morning," said Spreadex's financial analyst Connor Campbell.

"The lack of a consistent trading direction is likely a product of a market cocktail containing a dash of post-Fed statement confusion, a shot of lingering China-fear, and a sprinkling auto-sector sickness, a brew that leaves few economic anchors for investors to cling to." Thursday data Ahead of Yellen's speech, investors will analyse a report on weekly jobless claims at 1330 BST, while a reading on durable goods orders for August is published at the same time.

Meanwhile, data on new home sales for August is on tap at 1500 BST.

With the Fed choosing to stay put on interest rates last week, every piece of economic data could shed light over the timing of a rate increase.

"Now (NYSE: DNOW - news) that the September question has been put to bed the focus is now on December, and the latest Fed update wasn't dovish enough to rule out at rate increase at the end of the year," said IG (LSE: IGG.L - news) 's analyst David Madden.

Elsewhere, Asian equity markets struggled for direction on Thursday, as Japanese stocks were dragged lower by a slump in car stocks and tepid economic data, while European stocks were in the red.

The dollar was on the back foot against the main currencies, declining 0.47% against the yen and falling 0.42% and 0.18% against the euro and the pound respectively.

Gold (Other OTC: GDCWF - news) futures climbed 0.23% to $1,134.10, while oil prices edged slightly higher, with West Texas Intermediate gaining 0.22% to $44.58 a barrel, while Brent rose 0.13% to $47.81 a barrel.

In company news, KB Home (NYSE: KBH - news) 's quarterly results are on tap before the open, while Nike , Bed Bath and Beyond and Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL - news) will publish results after the closing bell.