NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Thursday, April 30:
1. -- U.S. stock futures were sagging as investors consider the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee announcement from Wednesday and await data on unemployment and manufacturing Thursday.
European stocks were volatile after Eurostat figures showed the eurozone has barely escaped its recent deflationary funk.
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2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. on Thursday includes initial jobless claims data at 8:30 a.m., personal income and spending numbers at 8:30 a.m., the employment cost index at 8:30 a.m., Chicago PMI manufacturing data at 9:45 a.m., the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index at 9:45 a.m., and the Kansas City Fed manufacturing index at 11 a.m.
3. -- U.S. stocks on Wednesday closed lower after a choppy trading day in which investors tried to figure out when the Federal Reservewould raise interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) dropped 0.41% to 18,035.53. The S&P 500 (SPY) sank 0.37% to 2,106.85. The Nasdaq(QQQ) declined 0.63% to 5,023.64.
4. -- The Fed's Open Market Committee meeting announcement was released Wednesday. The Fed didn't explicitly rule out a June interest rate hike, although prognosticators think such a move would be unlikely.
"The idea of raising rates in June is not officially off the table but it's less likely of a case scenario," said George Rusnak, co-head of global fixed income at Wells Fargo. "The more likely event is probably in September and, if anything, the way that they're cautioning their language right now, September could even potentially get pushed out to December."
5. -- Data on initial jobless claims arrives Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect a consensus of 288,000 new jobless claims, after 295,000 new unemployment claims were filed last week. The four-week average of continuing unemployment claims was at a 15-year low of 2.309 million for the last report.
Unemployment claims data is an essential economic health measure that might push the Federal Reserve toward holding rates steady (if the number is high) or raising rates more quickly (if the number is low).
6. -- Software-as-a-service company Salesforce.com (CRM - Get Report) is considering takeover offers after a company approached it about being acquired, according to a Bloomberg report. Salesforce.com was worth about $49 billion as of Wednesday's market close, so a buyout would be a big one. Salesforce's main rivals in cloud computing are Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL) and SAP (SAP), although Salesforce has more market share than any of them.
Salesforce.com stock rose 11.6% by Wednesday's market close and was up another 2.5% in premarket trading Thursday.
7. -- Oil prices will stay low for a year, according to a Reuters poll of 32 analysts. They predicted that Brent crude oil would average $60 a barrel in 2015, then up to $71.50 in 2016. Lower U.S. oil production won't boost prices much, according to the estimates.
Brent crude oil is currently trading for $65 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude oil is above $58. U.S. oil stockpiles are at a massive level of 490.1 million barrels, although the increase in the stockpile is slowing.
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8. -- Gross domestic product numbers in the latest report are not very strong. Growth in the first quarter fell to 0.2% at an annualized rate, down from 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2014. The drop may be because consumers aren't spending very much.
"What we've seen is confirmation that the consumer doesn't feel compelled to go out and spend money," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at London-based CMC Markets. "This is a trend I've been monitoring for the last four
or five months. You can blame the cold weather if you'd like, but I only think that's part of the problem."
Other commentators claim that the drop in GDP was temporary.
9. -- Electric carmaker Telsa (TSLA - Get Report) said it would invest in a charging network across Japan. Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the Nikkei that the charging stations would be solar-powered either directly via solar panels or indirectly via purchase of solar-derived energy.
In premarket trading, Tesla stock dropped 0.28%.
10. -- Thursday is another big day for earnings reports -- especially in the health care, pharmaceutical and energy sectors. Airgas(ARG), Cigna (CI), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Phillips 66 (PSX) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) report earnings before the opening bell. American International Group (AIG), Athenahealth (ATHN), Biomarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN), First Solar (FSLR), Gilead Sciences (GILD), and LinkedIn (LNKD) report earnings after the closing bell. ExxonMobil (XOM) also reports Thursday.
By Nora Morrison
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