(MENAFN– ecpulse) The US Session today is in focus of more signals ahead of Friday’s infamous jobs report. The focus will be on the Weekly Jobless Claims alongside factory orders for January, offering more signals over the health of the recovery and the reflection mainly on S&P 500 as the index holds at records.
Investors are locked on the European continent especially with the BoE and the ECB both keeping rates unchanged, while attention will be on Draghi for more details over the coming policy move amid the tension in Ukraine and fears of the crisis worsening distrusting mainly gas supplies and affecting the foreign exchange again with heightened volatility.
At 13:30 GMT the focus will be of course on ECB President Mario Draghi’s press conference as investors look for signals from the president on whether the ECB will take action to stave off deflation with further monetary loosening, that will surely affect the euro in the US session.
At the same time, investors add the last clue ahead of tomorrow’s jobs report from the weekly unemployment claims. The weekly jobless claims are expected to have dropped in the week ending February 01 by 12K to 336K compared to the previous week at 348K as the harsh weather conditions continue to affect the labor market and the volatility in the weekly claims that is likely to be reflected in tomorrow’s payrolls report.
SPX 500 gains key session highlight
Volatility is still eyed ahead of the session, and aside from the data the focus is on the record breaking streak for S&P 500 that holds onto gains around records high levels.
Ahead of the bell, Dow and SPX futures trailed gains in Europe and Asia as the Ukraine tension subsides.
- Dow futures are trading higher by 0.14% around 16379.00 setting the high so far at 16391.00
- SPX futures are also higher by around 0.14% round 1874.80 setting the high so far at 1877.50
S&P 500 settled Wednesday nearly unchanged with slight losses at records at 1873.81 after it surged the most this year. Investors focus will be on the bullish steak for gains ahead of the jobs report that will likely weight on the market.
A weak jobs report might in fact fuel expectations for the Fed to slow their QE exit and that will keep liquidity ample in the market and of course support gains for equities.
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