Stock futures point to fourth straight day of losses

‘Secular’ bull market will go on despite pullback: Market expert

Saut Strategy founder and advisory board member Jeff Saut discusses his outlook for the market amid volatility.

U.S. stock futures pointed to a fourth straight day of losses as traders awaited the latest weekly jobless claims report. 

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were lower by 121 points, or 0.36%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were lower by 0.19% and 0.03%, respectively. The selling comes after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s April meeting suggested many members believed the central bank should begin discussing the removal of its emergency support if the economic recovery continues to progress. 

Investors will get their latest indication on the health of the economy when weekly jobless claims are released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by Refinitiv are anticipating 450,000 Americans filed for first-time benefits in the week ended May 15.  

In stocks, Dow component Cisco Systems Inc. warned supply-chain disruptions are likely to continue through the end of this year and gave current-quarter profit guidance that was below Wall Street expectations.

Kohl’s Corp. swung to a quarterly profit from a loss the year earlier and raised its profit forecast for the current fiscal year due to strong demand for apparel amid the economy’s reopening. 

Elsewhere, crypto-linked names including Coinbase Global Inc., Tesla Inc. and MicroStrategy Inc. saw some relief a day after suffering losses as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies saw their prices plunge. Bitcoin, which fell to a low of $30,681 on Wednesday, was trading near $40,000 a coin.  

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. confirmed a test flight of its SpaceShipTwo Unity will be conducted Saturday, pending weather and technical checks. 

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil slid $1 to $62.36 per barrel and gold lost $13.40 to $1,868.10 per ounce. 

Overseas markets were mixed.

European bourses rallied across the board with France’s CAC 40 advancing 0.61%, Germany’s DAX 30 climbing 0.54% and Britain’s FTSE 100 edging up 0.14%. 

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.19% while China’s Shanghai Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.11% and 0.5%, respectively. 

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