U.S. stock futures opened higher Thursday night, with contracts on the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq each moving to the upside.
U.S. stocks closed Thursday’s session mixed, with technology and retail shares leading the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq (^IXIC) higher while economic data pointed to a recovering labor market.
The Dow (^DJI) slipped 230 points (0.2%), pressured by a drop in shares of Cisco (CSCO). The computer networking company posted quarterly results after the bell Wednesday that fell short of analysts’ expectations due to component shortages and the company issuing weaker-than-expected guidance.
The S&P 500 ticked up by 0.3%, while the tech–heavy Nasdaq gained 0.5%, led by gains from Tesla (TSLA) and Nvidia (NVDA). Contracts on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended at all-time closing highs.
The indexes gained momentum early Thursday after new unemployment claims edged down to 268,000 last week, signaling that number of claims is beginning to reach pre-pandemic levels as employers hold on tight to their workers around an uncertain labor market.
