Closely watched December chain-store sales, weekly jobless claims on investors' agenda.
January 8, 2004: 5:56 AM EST
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Bullish investors who've had a happy holiday season will find out Thursday if the stores where they bought gifts had one as well, as the nation's chain retailers issue their December results.
At 5:30 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a flat start for the major indexes.
The individual retailers' reports will be issued throughout the pre-market hours, with the results from No. 1 merchant Wal-Mart Stores being most closely watched. The company has said it expects monthly sales at the low end of a 3 percent to 5 percent target range.
Among U.S. stocks trading in Europe, Wal-Mart (WMT: Research, Estimates) was less than 1 percent higher early
Thursday.
Also due before the markets open Thursday is the weekly jobless claims report. It's expected to show a rise to 345,000 in the week ended Jan. 2 from 339,000 in the last full week of 2003, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The report comes a day before the closely watched December employment report; the forecast is for the unemployment rate to hold at 5.9 percent and for 148,000 growth in non-farm payrolls.
For details of Wednesday's gain, click above
After the markets open, the government's wholesale inventories report is due. The projected November growth of 0.5 percent would match the October gain. About an hour before the markets close, the nation's consumer credit is seen rising to $5 billion in November from October's $900 million.
The Nasdaq composite index has risen in all four of this year's trading session, and stands at a 2-1/2 year high after Wednesday's 1 percent advance. The Dow Jones industrial average remains up for the year even though it has risen just once in the past four sessions; Wednesday's decline was less than 0.1 percent.
It was a mixed Thursday for Asian-Pacific stocks, with Tokyo's Nikkei index up 0.7 percent. European markets rose in early trading. (Check the latest on world markets)
Treasury prices declined, sending the 10-year note yield up to 4.27 percent from 4.24 percent late Wednesday. The dollar gained ground against the euro but was slightly weaker versus the yen.
Brent oil futures rallied 8 cents to $30.60 a barrel in London, where gold slipped below $420 an ounce.
After the close, Alcoa (AA: Research, Estimates) will become the first Dow component to report fourth-quarter results. The aluminum maker is expected to post earnings of 34 cents a share, up from 16 cents a year earlier, according to a consensus of analysts surveyed by First Call.
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