U.S. stock futures  lower in pre-market trading for Thursday, April 19.The Dow Futures is trading at 24,728.00  with a loss of -0.08% percent or -21.00 point. The S&P 500 Futures is trading at  2,709.00 with a loss of -0.03% percent or  -0.75 point. The Nasdaq Futures is trading at 6,842.00  with a loss of  -0.02% percent or -1.50 point.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading at 22,191.18  up  with +0.15% percent or  +32.98 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading at 30,598.75 up with +1.04% percent or +314.50 point. China’s Shanghai Composite is trading at 3,113.32 up with +0.71% percent or  +21.92 point. India’s BSE Sensex is trading at 34,414.84 up with +0.24% percent or +83.16  point at 12:15 PM.The FTSE 100 is trading at 7,334.60 up with +0.24% percent or +17.26 point. Germany’s DAX is trading at 12,577.59   with a loss of -0.11% percent or  ?13.24 point. France’s CAC 40 is trading at 5,389.62   up with +0.18% percent or +9.45 point. The Stoxx Europe 600 is trading at 381.70  with a loss of -0.05% percent or -0.19 point.

Thursday’s Factors and Events

The broad index gained 0.1 percent to close at 2,708.64, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.2 percent to finish the session at 7,295.24. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 38.56 points to 24,748.07, however, as steep losses from IBM pushed the 30-stock index lower.

Rail transportation company CSX posted quarterly results that easily beat Wall Street estimates, boosted by a series of cost-cutting measures. CSX shares rose 7.8 percent and posted their biggest gain since Jan. 17, when it gained more than 20 percent.

 United Airlines also posted better-than-expected results for the first quarter, sending its stock higher by nearly 5 percent.

Wednesday’s Activity

U.S. market were mixed on Wednesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 24,748.07  with a loss of -0.16% percent or ?38.56 point. The S&P 500 closed at 2,708.64  up with +0.083% percent or +2.25 point. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,295.24 up with  +0.19% percent or  +14.14 point.

Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,604.97  up with +0.32% percent or +5.16 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 975.10 up with +0.30% percent or +2.91 point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 1,922.80 up with +0.28% percent or +5.44 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,187.26  with a loss of -0.095% percent or  ?1.13 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 1,606.46  up with +0.12% percent or +1.95 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 1,502.01 up with +0.11% percent or +1.68 point;