U.S. stock futures are mostly higher in pre-market trading for Friday, June 3. The Dow Futures are up 9.00 points to 17834.0. The S&P 500 Futures are higher at 2104.0 with a gain of 0.25 points. The Russell Futures are showing a gain of 0.30 points at 1171.4. The Nasdaq Futures are lower at 4529.0 for a loss of -3.25.
In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, stocks in Asia are mostly higher. China’s Shanghai Composite is higher at 2938.68 for a gain of 13.45 points or 0.46 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is higher at 16642.23 for a gain of 79.68 points or 0.48 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is higher at 20947.24 for a gain of 88.02 points or 0.42 percent. India’s S&P BSE Sensex is lower at 26843.03 for a loss of -0.11 points or 0.01 percent. The Asia Dow is higher at 2656.19 points for a gain of 8.70 points or 0.33 percent. In Europe, the FTSE 100 is higher at 6247.41 for a gain of 61.80 points or 1.00 percent. Germany’s DAX is higher at 10268.16 for a gain of 60.16 points or 0.59 percent. France’s CAC 40 is higher at 4487.86 for a gain of 21.86 points or 0.49 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 is higher at 346.42 for a gain of 2.07 points or 0.60 percent. The Europe Dow is higher at 1552.37 for a gain of 7.43 points or 0.48 percent.
Friday’s Factors and Events
The leading economic report on the calendar for Friday is the May Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report is expected to show an increase in payrolls of 158,000 which is below the previous month’s report of 160,000. The consensus overall is estimated between 110,000 and 219,000. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 4.9 percent from 5.0 percent.
Stocks trading actively in the pre-market include Monsanto Co., Praxair Inc., Bank of America Corporation, Carnival Corp. and Facebook Inc.
Shares of Twitter and Yahoo are both trading higher after rumors yesterday that the two companies could be merging. Yahoo has been accepting numerous bids for a buyout including a leading bid from Verizon. On Thursday, Twitter was higher by 1.20 percent and Yahoo was higher by 1.36 percent.
Thursday’s Activity
Stocks were mostly higher on Thursday despite some global challenges. On Thursday, OPEC met in Austria with no resolution on oil supply caps which will continue to keep supply higher and also pressure oil prices to the downside. The European Central Bank also met in the Eurozone with a report to keep its interest rate at zero which continues to provide stimulus and policy easing for the Eurozone.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,838.56 for a gain of 48.89 points or 0.27 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2105.26 for a gain of 5.93 points or 0.28 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 4971.36 for a gain of 19.11 points or 0.39 percent.
Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.
Other notable index closes in the U.S. on Thursday included the small-cap Russell 2000 closing at 1169.05 for a gain of 6.01 points or 0.52 percent; the S&P 600 closing at 713.22 for a gain of 3.11 points or 0.44 percent; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closing at 1505.89 for a gain of 7.37 points or 0.49 percent; the S&P 100 closing at 929.94 for a gain of 1.84 points or 0.20 percent; the Russell 3000 closing at 1241.69 for a gain of 3.13 points or 0.25 percent; the Nasdaq 100 closing at 4531.35 for a gain of 11.28 points or 0.25 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closing at 594.89 for a gain of 1.49 points or 0.25 percent.