Wall Street Might Be Slightly Up At Open

In the peace talks, though Russia promised talks to reduce strikes on Ukrainian cities, heavy shelling is reported from several regions.

Housing prices are continuously touching new highs in the US.

Early cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open slightly up.

Asian shares finished lower, while European shares are trading mostly down.

As of 8.25 am ET, the Dow futures were up 1.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 5.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 51.75 points.

The U.S. major averages ended lower on Wednesday. The Dow ended with a loss of 65.38 points or 0.19 percent at 35,228.81, recovering well from a low of 35,058.58. The S&P 500 drifted down 29.15 points or 0.63 to close at 4,603.45, while the Nasdaq ended down by 177.36 points or 1.21 percent at 14,442.27.

On the economic front, the Labor Department’s Jobless Claims for the week will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 195K, while it was up 187K in the prior week.

The Personal Income and Outlays for February will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.5 percent, while it was 0.0 percent in January.

The Chicago PMI for March will be released at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is for 57.0, while it was up 56.3 in the prior month.

The Agriculture Department’s Farm Prices for February are expected at 3.00 pm ET. The farm prices were down 0.9 percent in the prior month.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be issued at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the level was up $8.962 trillion.

Asian shares ended mostly in the red on Thursday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 14.39 points or 0.4 percent to finish at 3,252.20.

The Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 Index ended at 27,821.43 on Thursday, down 205.82 points or 0.7 percent. The Hang Seng Index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange lost 235.18 points or 1.1 percent from previous close to finish trading at 21,996.85.
Australia’s S&P/ASX200 Index closed trading at 7,499.60 after dropping 14.90 points or 0.2 percent.

European shares are trading mostly lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is progressing 156.77 points or 2.39 percent. The German DAX is losing 37.09 points or 0.25 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is losing 16.29 points or 0.22 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is adding 21.93 points or 0.17 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.46 percent.

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