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 * Helping support the early rebound, oil prices were steady after
the International Energy Agency said it expects a significant
reduction in supplies later this year. [O/R]
* Wall Street dropped on Wednesday as feeble quarterly reports from
Walt Disney <DIS.N>, Macy's <M.N> and Fossil <FOSL.O> undermined
confidence across the consumer sector.
* The first retailer report on Thursday did little to assuage
concerns. Shares of Kohl's <KSS.N> fell 6.9 percent to $36 premarket
after the department store operator reported its first drop in net
sales in six quarters.
* Ralph Lauren is scheduled to report results before markets open,
while Nordstrom and Dillard's are expected to report after the
close.
* First-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies have mostly beaten
analysts' expectations, but are estimated to have fallen 5.4 percent
from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.
* Jack in the Box rose 10.9 percent at $72.26 after the hamburger
restaurant chain operator's quarterly results beat expectations.
* Monsanto was up 4.9 percent at $94.75 after media reports said
Germany's BASF is mulling a bid for the company.
* Investors will also be keeping an eye on a trio of Federal Reserve
speakers for clues regarding the future path of rate increases by
the central bank.
* Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, a voting member of the
central bank's policy setting committee, will give a speech in
Germany at 11 a.m. ET (1500 GMT).
* Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, who has said investors'
expectations on the timing of rate hikes are out of sync with
policymakers' views, will speak in New Hampshire at 11:45 a.m. ET.
[to top of second column] |
* Kansas City Fed President Esther George will present her views on
the economy at 2:15 p.m. ET. George dissented at the Fed's March
meeting because she wanted an interest rate hike.
* The Fed next meets on June 14-15 and while various policymakers
have hinted at two rate hikes this year, traders are pricing in only
one due to mixed economic data and underwhelming corporate earnings.
Futures snapshot at 7:18 a.m. ET:
* S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.75 points, or 0.52 percent, with
184,173 contracts traded.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 23.5 points, or 0.54 percent, on
volume of 24,634 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were up 69 points, or 0.39 percent, with 26,594
contracts changing hands.
(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
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