Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Edgy Ahead Of Data-Heavy Session — Analyst Says Markets In 'Holding Pattern' In Anticipation Of Q4 Results, CPI Print

U.S. stocks look set to open Thursday’s session on a nervous note, potentially reversing the gains from the previous session.

What Happened: On Wednesday, the major averages opened higher but retreated in late morning trading. Stocks recovered, following the release of the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index that fell to the lowest level since May 2020. The averages retraced some of the gains amid the release of the Federal Open Market Committee’s December meeting minutes and yet closed with notable gains.

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The minutes showed that the Fed saw the need for more rate hikes to rein in inflation, although conceding that the pace of raises should be gradual.

The market witnessed broad-based strength, with real estate, material and financial stocks seeing marked buying strength.

U.S. Indices' Performance On Wednesday

Index	Performance (+/-)		Value
Nasdaq Composite	+0.69%		10,458.76
S&P 500 Index	+0.75%		3,852.97
Dow Industrials	+0.40%		33,269.77

“We are in a holding pattern, waiting for 4th quarter results and subsequent 2023 estimates which will set the tone for the first quarter, as will next week's CPI data,” fund manager Louis Navellier said in a note.

“It's still time to be conservative given the uncertainty of earnings and inflation, with the pullback in energy an attractive opportunity.”

Here’s a peek into index futures trading:

U.S. Futures' Performance On Thursday

Index	Performance (+/-)
Nasdaq 100 Futures	+0.05%
S&P 500 Futures	+0.01%
Dow Futures	-0.02%
R2K Futures	+0.49%

In premarket trading on Thursday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY edged up 0.07%, to $384.01, and the Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ rose 0.10%, to $2266, according to Benzinga Pro data.

On the economic front, the Challenger job cuts report for December is due at 7:30 a.m. EST. The report, compiled by Challenger, Grey & Christmas, provides data on corporate layoffs for a particular month. In November, 76,835 corporate jobs were eliminated, the highest since January 2021.

At 8:15 a.m. EST, ADP is set to release its private payroll data for December. Economists, on average, expect the private sector to have added 150,000 jobs in the month, more than the November tally of 127,000.

The Labor Department is scheduled to release the weekly jobless claims report at 8:30 a.m. EST. The number of individuals claiming unemployment is expected to climb by 225,000 in the week ended Dec. 31, the same pace of increase as in the previous week.

Around the same time, the Commerce Department is set to release the trade balance report for November. The trade deficit for the month is expected to have narrowed to $73 billion.

Federal Open Market Committee member and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will make a public appearance at 9:20 a.m. EST.

The Institute for Supply Management is due to release its reports on the service sector and composite PMIs for December at 9:45 a.m. EST. The service sector PMI may have fallen from 46.2 in November to 44.4 in December, taking the composite PMI to 44.6.

The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly oil inventory report for the week ended Dec. 31.

FOMC member and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is scheduled to speak at 1:20 a.m. EST.

Stocks In Focus:

• Western Digital Corp. WDC climbed over 6% in premarket trading amid reports that it has restarted merger talks with Japan’s Kioxia Holdings.
• Amazon Inc. AMZN rose over 2.50%. Reports suggest the company will eliminate about 18,000 jobs.
• AngioDynamics Inc. ANGO, ConAgra Brands Inc. CAG, Constellation Brands Inc. STZ and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WGA are among the companies due to report their results before the market open.

Commodities, Other Global Markets:

Crude oil futures recovered after a two-session slide on Thursday, with a barrel of WTI-grade oil costing $74.75, up 2.62%.

The yield on the 10-year benchmark U.S. Treasury note eased, dropping 0.004% points to $3.705%.

Asia-Pacific stocks advanced notably on Thursday, drawing inspiration from the optimism shown by Wall Street stocks overnight and China’s reemergence from strict COVID-19 norms. The Chinese and Hong Kong markets led from the front, while the Indian and Indonesian markets bucked the uptrend.

The European markets have turned mixed in late-morning trading, with the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index gaining, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 Index coming under selling pressure.

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