Wall Street stock index futures higher as central bankers gather at Jackson Hole

Wall Street stock futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday, with market participants looking ahead to the first day of Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming.

On Wednesday, US equity indexes ended in red territory as Washington's political turmoil weighed on market sentiment. Traders opted for a cautious positioning after President Donald Trump threatened with a government shutdown over his controversial Mexico-US border wall.

At a rally with his supporters, Trump said: "Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it. But believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall."

In reaction to Trump’s comments, Republican speaker Paul Ryan said on Wednesday that a government shutdown is not really necessary and most people do not seem to be interested in such measure to secure funds for the wall.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched down to 21,812. The S&P 500 ended 0.35 percent to the south while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.30 percent at 6278.41.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

The best performers were United Technologies Corporation, which added 1.16 percent to 117.03, followed by International Business Machines rising 0.80 percent to 142.14 and Pfizer Inc securing a 0.27 percent gain to close at 33.24.

The worst performers were Johnson & Johnson, which dropped 1.41 percent to 132.80, Walt Disney Company easing 1.24 percent to 101.50 and Cisco Systems Inc falling 1.12 percent to end the session at 30.92.

Standard & Poor’s 500

The top performers were Foot Locker Inc, which added 6.24 percent to 35.25, Xilinx Inc rising 4.35 percent to 64.01 and Simon Property Group Inc which closed at 157.57, up 2.83 percent.

The worst performers were Omnicom Group Inc, taking a 7.00 percent hit to close at 72.66, followed by Interpublic Group of Companies Inc which saw a 6.32 percent draw to 19.58 and Coty Inc falling 5.48 percent to end the day at 16.74.

Nasdaq Composite

The top performers were Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc which rose 83.33% to 2.2000, Intracellular Th which was up 27.68% to settle at 14.39 and Paratek Pharmaceuticals Inc which gained 27.30% to close at 24.25.

The worst performers were Precipio Inc which was down 46.76% to 2.3800 in late trade, Diana Containerships Inc which lost 40.28% to settle at 0.2600 and root9B Holdings Inc which was down 30.33% to 2.0900 at the close.

There are increasing concerns that Trump’s aggressive rhetoric would affect his ability to push key campaign promises in Congress, such as the long-awaited tax reform or the American Health Care Act, which is meant to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Lower taxes promises for both individuals and corporations created a great speculative impulse for US stock markets since the November 2016 election.

The Jackson Hole symposium will be at the center stage in the second part of this week. Investors will be paying close attention to speeches from ECB President Mario Draghi and Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Friday.

In economic news, manufacturing and services PMI indexes for August came in at 52.5 and 56.9 respectively, against expectation for 53.3 and 54.9 readings. New home sales unexpectedly dropped 9.4 percent in July, while analysts had forecasted a 0.3 percent build.

On the data front today, traders are looking at initial jobless claims at 12:30 GMT and existing home sales for July as of 14:30 GMT, with a 0.9 percent increase eyed.

Fort Financial Services