S&P 500, Nasdaq Digest Flurry Of Earnings As Jobs Report Looms Large

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were green, but relatively flat heading into the open on Thursday as investors digest yet more earnings reports.

In addition to the reports, investors are watching unemployment numbers.

Yesterday was a strong day for tech on the Street, with Nasdaq climbing more than 2% on Thursday. Crude oil prices continue to drop, reaching $90 a barrel for WTI Crude, DailyFX. 

This Morning Before The Bell: 

• Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly LLY reported earnings, missing on EPS and lowered guidance. Despite this, the stock is only down about 1.5% in pre-market trading. 
• Cloud company DataDog Inc. DDOG also reported this morning, missing on EPS and sales estimates. The stock is trading down about 6%, from around $112 a share to $105.
• Toyota Motors TM shares are trading lower after the company reported worse-than-expected earnings. 

All eyes will be on nonfarm payroll numbers that will be released tomorrow before the open. Job numbers have defied all of the recession talks, remaining strong throughout the last few months.

Today, it was reported that jobless claims jumped 6,000 for the week ended July 30 to 260,000 from a downwardly revised level of 254,000 in the prior week, according to data the Labor Department released on Thursday.

Wall Street also remains focused on Taiwan, after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi returns from her visit to the island off the coast of mainland China.

Related Story: Nancy Pelosi Meets With Taiwan Semiconductor - Will It Help Line The Speaker's Pockets?

Semiconductor stocks like NVIDIA and AMD have been in focus in the last couple of weeks, first with the CHIPS Bill which will provide billions of dollars of funding for chip production in the U.S., and now with Pelosi's visiting Taiwan.

Taiwan is the world leader in semiconductor manufacturing.