Trump-CEOs tensions weigh on sentiment; Wall Street index futures down

Wall Street stock indexes were set for a lower open on Thursday, with market participants digesting mixed FOMC minutes as they looked ahead of new economic reports later in the day.

Today’s agenda includes the release of initial jobless claims, the Philly Fed manufacturing index for August as of 12:30 GMT. Industrial production for July will be out at 13:15 GMT.

Traders will also be paying attention to speeches from Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari at 17:00 GMT and 17:45 GMT respectively.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended in green territory on Wednesday, with United Technologies and Home Depot recovering from previous session losses.

The S&P 500 was moving around breakeven, with materials supporting the benchmark and as energy sector stocks pushed it downwards.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was up 0.19 percent as Apple stocks rose to all-time highs.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 25.88 / 0.12% / 22024.87
• Standard & Poor’s 500: 3.50 / 0.14% / 2468.11
• Nasdaq Composite: 12.10 / 0.19% / 6345.11

Building permits for July notched down 4.1 percent, while housing starts dropped 4.8 percent, both missing expectations for a 2.0 percent decline and a 0.5 percent build respectively.

Minutes of July’s Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting confirmed what investors have already noted in the last few weeks, there are two very strong, very different positions regarding interest rate moves. While some policymakers expressed concern about low inflation levels, others insisted that waiting too long to raise rates could be damaging for the economy.

"...some participants expressed concern about the recent decline in inflation, which had occurred even as resource utilization had tightened, and noted their increased uncertainty about the outlook for inflation," the minutes said.

Another key issue mentioned in the minutes was the plan to unwind Fed’s massive balance sheet later this year. The “relatively soon” expression showed up once again.

"Participants generally agreed that, in light of their current assessment of economic conditions and the outlook, it was appropriate to signal that implementation of the program likely would begin relatively soon," the document said.

Fort Financial Services