Stock futures little changed and oil prices hover at 14-year highs as fighting between Russia and Ukraine enters its second week.
Stock futures were little changed Thursday while oil prices hovered at 14-year highs as fighting between Russia and Ukraine entered its second week with little indication of a de-escalation in tensions.
On Wall Street, futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 21 points, or 0.03%, at last check. S&P 500 futures were down 3.25 points, or 0.07%, while Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 33 points, or 0.23%. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury hovered around 1.86% after dipping below 1.7% during the previous trading session.
Oil prices continued their advance Thursday, with Brent crude futures touching their highest in 14 years amid U.S. sanctions targeting Russian refineries, disruptions to shipping and fall in U.S. crude stocks to multi-year lows.
Brent-crude futures, the international benchmark, rose 3.5% to as high as $116.93 a barrel on Thursday, the highest since 2008, before settling back to $113.80, a 3.2% rise.
Ukrainian defenses continue to hold most major urban areas under attack on Thursday, with Russia’s efforts to quickly seize the capitol city of Kyiv and topple the Ukrainian leadership continuing to meet with fierce resistance.
Ukrainian and Russian officials were slated to hold a second round of cease-fire talks near the Polish border in Belarus on Thursday following a previous round on Monday that failed to achieve concrete results.
Meantime, the Russian rouble hit a new record low Thursday, extending declines for the fourth consecutive day as ratings agencies Fitch and Moody’s downgraded the country’s sovereign bonds to “junk” status.
Investors will be paying close attention to remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who will speak to the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday as part of his second day of Capitol Hill testimony.
Powell told House Financial Services Committee members Wednesday that he plans to support a quarter-point rate hike when Fed policymakers meet later this month to discuss whether to lift the benchmark fed funds rate to combat inflation.
Top pre-market gainers included Box (BOX) – Get Box, Inc. Class A Report, Alset eHome International (AEI) and Ampio Pharmaceuticals (AMPE) – Get Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Report. Top pre-market decliners Thursday included Snowflake (SNOW) – Get Snowflake, Inc. Class A Report, Nucana PLC (NCNA) – Get NuCana Plc Report and Weave Communications (WEAV) .
On the economic front, investors will be watching weekly jobless claims, which were expected to total 225,000 last week. Productivity, weekly export sales and ISM’s latest report on the services industry outlook also are on tap.
On the earnings front, several retailers are set to post results ahead of the opening bell, including Big Lots (BIG) – Get Big Lots, Inc. Report, BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) – Get BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. Report, Burlington Stores (BURL) – Get Burlington Stores, Inc. Report and Kroger (KR) – Get Kroger Co. Report. Broadcom (AVGO) – Get Broadcom Inc. Report, Costco (COST) – Get Costco Wholesale Corporation Report and Gap (GPS) – Get Gap, Inc. Report are expected to report their fourth-quarter results after the market close.
