Thursday August 25th

U.S. stock index futures were higher Thursday morning after all three major averages ended higher during the daily trading session. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 35 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.39% and 0.55%, respectively. Snowflake jumped 17% after posting a beat on revenue. Shares of Nvidia slid 4% on the heels of a quarterly report that missed Wall Street’s expectations. Salesforce fell more than 6% after the company provided a disappointing forecast for fiscal 2023. The Dow on Wednesday rose slightly along with the S&P 500. For both averages, the gains snapped three-day long losing streaks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also ticked up 0.41%. The market action took place as investors await the start of the Jackson Hole economic symposium, which begins Thursday with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell scheduled to speak the following morning. Traders will be listening for more information about how the central bank will combat high inflation and if policymakers may cut rates when the current hiking cycle is over. “It’s steady as it goes, it’s way too early for the Fed to consider a pivot,” said Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research, on CNBC’s “Fast Money.” Investors are also waiting for key economic reports scheduled to come out later in the week, including jobless claims Thursday and the personal consumption expenditures Friday. The PCE report is one of the Fed’s favorite inflation measures, and it could influence its actions going forward. Peloton reports quarterly earnings Thursday before the bell, along with Gap, Dollar Tree and Dollar General. Ulta Beauty, Workday and Affirm Holdings will release their own results after markets close Thursday. Initial filings for unemployment benefits fell last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Jobless claims came in 243,000 for the week ended Aug. 20, down 2,000 from the prior week. It was also lower than consensus estimates of 255,000, according to StreetAccount. The first revision for second-quarter GDP painted a slightly less dour picture for the U.S. economy. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Thursday that GDP contracted by 0.6% in the second quarter. The advance estimate released last month showed a decline of 0.9%. There was a negative revision elsewhere in the report. The price index for gross domestic purchases grew 8.4% during the quarter. The previous estimate showed a rise of 8.2%. Despite the high inflation and the negative GDP growth, real gross domestic income rose by 1.4% in the second quarter. Markets in the Asia-Pacific traded mostly higher ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium in the United States, while Hong Kong’s session resumed in the afternoon after trading was halted due to a typhoon warning. The Hang Seng index was up 3.63% to 19,968.38 at the close, pumped higher by tech stocks. Alibaba jumped 8.75%, Tencent was up 4.84%, and JD.com rose 11%. The Hang Seng Tech index closed up 6.01%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.97% at 3,246.25 at the close, while the Shenzhen Component edged higher to 12,104.03. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended the session 0.58% higher at 28,479.01, while the Topix was up 0.48% at 1,976.6. Australia’s S&P/ASX was also up by 0.71% at 7,048.1. In South Korea, the Kospi rose 1.22% to 2,477.26 and the Kosdaq was up 1.79% at 807.37 as the Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points. Oil prices steadied on Thursday as producer group OPEC+ raised the prospects of curbing oil supplies while the prospect of an agreement that could return sanctioned Iranian oil exports to the market weighed. Brent crude eased 2 cents to $101.20 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 22 cents, or 0.2%, at $94.67 a barrel. Gold prices gained for a third consecutive session on Thursday, helped by a softer dollar as investors looked ahead to the Jackson Hole economic symposium for cues on inflation and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate path. Spot gold rose 0.8% to $1,764.83 per ounce. U.S. gold futures gained 0.94% to $1,778.00.