Yahoo Finance Stocks- Wall Street Set for Mixed Opening Bell
Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a mixed opening bell on Thursday as tax reform bill progress takes center stage.
The S&P 500 futures rose one point or 0.04% as of 6:43 AM ET (11:43 AM GMT) while Dow futures decreased 12 points or 0.05% Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 15 points or 0.25%.
On Wednesday, the Senate voted to go to a conference committee with the house to negotiation the tax reform bill, giving investors hope that Congress will agree on a final bill before the Dec. 22 deadline. Meanwhile, worries over a government shutdown eased after the House extended funding through Dec. 22. If Congress cannot agree to spending legislation by Friday, parts of the government could start shutting down.
Athletic apparel firm Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) was among the biggest gainers in pre-market trading, surging 7.89% after upbeat earnings release on Wednesday. Meanwhile banking firm Santander (MC:SAN) was up 0.31% while Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd (NYSE:BABA) rose 0.97%.
Elsewhere British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) PLC ADR (NYSE:BTI) slipped 1.39% and mining firm Rio Tinto ADR (NYSE:RIO) was down 1.35% while oil company BP (LON:BP) PLC ADR (NYSE:BP) decreased 0.29%.
In political news, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv, a move that was denounced worldwide. The United Nations and European Union condemned the decision, voicing concerns over the ramification the move would have on the peace process between Israel and Palestine.
On the data front, jobless claims comes out at 8:30 AM ET (1:30 PM GMT) while Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley, is expected to attend the "Higher Education Financing and Costs and Returns of Higher Education" event in New York.
Stocks in Europe were up. Germany’s DAX rose 16 points or 0.12% while in France the CAC 40 increased one point or 0.03% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up three points or 0.04%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 rose seven points or 0.20% while Spain’s IBEX 35 rallied 36 points or 0.35%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.68% to $1,257.50 a troy ounce while crude oil futures was up 0.36% to $56.16 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched forward 0.18% to 93.70. Bitcoin surged to $14,304, just 24 hours after passing the $12,000 mark.
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