Dow Jones Industrial Average futures advanced Thursday morning as investors gained confidence in the economy following encouraging economic data that helped ease recession worry. Futures tied to the 30-stock Dow climbed 329 points, or about 0.82%. S&P futures rose 0.79%, while Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.94%. Dow component Walmart added to the early momentum, with a raised outlook and an earnings report that topped analyst estimates, sending shares up more than 6% in premarket trading. Elsewhere, Cisco Systems jumped more than 5% after announcing a fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat and cuts to its global workforce. Retails sales increased 1% in July, far surpassing an estimate from Dow Jones that forecast a 0.3% uptick. Also separately, weekly jobless claims fell for the week. The data served as a boon to investors and a broader market trying to mount a comeback from an August rout tied to concerns about a slowing economy that arose following July’s disappointing jobs report on August 2nd. “Today didn’t deliver any major curveballs,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley. “More data like this could ease concerns that the economy is tilting toward recession, and take pressure off the Fed to cut rates more aggressively than they’d like to.” After a 2% gain this week, the S&P 500 is now less than 4% below its record. The three major U.S. indexes are now trading above their Aug. 2 closing level, which was the session before the global stock market crash on Aug. 5 that was largely driven by investors’ concerns about an economic slowdown and an unexpected unwind of the yen carry trade. Encouraging inflation data this week had largely swept away investors’ recessionary fears prior to Thursday’s swath of economic data, and led to a rebound in equities following last week’s sharp global sell-off. Several companies also made moves after 13F regulatory filings revealed closely watched investment managers were adding the stocks to their portfolios. Ulta Beauty shares popped more than 13.5% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a new stake in the cosmetics company. Nike shares added about 3% after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square revealed a position in the sneaker giant. Stocks climbed on Wednesday after the consumer price index reflected a slowing annual inflation rate of 2.9%, the lowest since 2021. That data — coupled with a key measure of wholesale inflation released Tuesday that rose less than expected — has reassured investors that an economic soft landing is back on the table and that the Federal Reserve will likely lower interest rates at the central bank’s September meeting. The CPI report confirmed “a trend that has been in place for a number of months: inflation moderating to a more normalized run rate level of price gains, and one that should continue to build confidence for the Federal Reserve that this part of its mandate has been durably tamed,” said BlackRock’s global chief investment officer of fixed income Rick Rieder. U.S. Treasury yields rose on Thursday after retail sales data came in surprisingly strong. The yield on the 10-year Treasury yield climbed more than 8 basis points to 3.909%. The 2-year Treasury yield jumped more than 10 basis points tp 4.057%. Asia-Pacific markets largely rose on Thursday after Japan’s GDP growth beat expectations, while traders also digested China retail sales, industrial output and urban unemployment data for July. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.78% to close at 36,726.64, while the broader Topix rose 0.73% to 2,600.75. Both indexes recorded their fourth straight day of gains. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.19% to 7,865.5, after its unemployment rate for July ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 4.2%. The country’s participation rate also climbed to 67.1%, beating the 66.9% expected by economists polled by Reuters. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell marginally as of its final hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 gained 0.99%, rebounding off a six month low. South Korea and India markets are closed for a public holiday. U.S. crude oil futures rose 1% on Thursday, rebounding from two days of losses as the benchmark reached for $78 per barrel. The U.S. benchmark surged above $80 per barrel on Monday as Israel and OPEC member Iran appeared on the brink of direct conflict, with the Pentagon dispatching forces to the Middle East to defend its ally. Prices subsequently pulled back as war fears eased, at least temporarily, with Iran apparently willing to abort an expected strike on Israel if Gaza cease-fire talks scheduled Thursday in Qatar are successful. West Texas Intermediate September contract: $77.80 per barrel, up 80 cents, or 1.04%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil has gained 8.6%. Brent October contract: $80.52 per barrel, up 98 cents, or 0.99%. Year to date, the global benchmark is ahead 4.58%. Gold advanced on Thursday after better than expected U.S. retail sales and weekly jobless claims data boosted confidence in the economy and hopes for interest rate cuts. Spot gold rose 0.5% to $2,459.59 per ounce, after prices fell their most since Aug. 6 on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures were 1.1% up at $2,506.0.
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