(RTTNews) - After trending lower in recent sessions, stocks are likely to show a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets.
Lingering uncertainty about the financial situation in Europe is likely to contribute to the choppy trading, with traders keeping an eye on the latest developments in Greece.
Traders are also digesting the Labor Department's report on initial jobless claims in the week ended May 12th, which showed that claims came in unchanged.
The report said jobless claims came in at 370,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised figure. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 365,000 from the 367,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Not long after the open, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its report on regional manufacturing activity. The Philly Fed's index of activity in the sector is expected to climb to 10.0 in May from 8.5 in April.
The Conference Board is also scheduled to release its report on leading economic indicators, with the leading indicators index expected to edge up by 0.1 percent in April.
In corporate news, shares of Wal-Mart (WMT) could see early strength after the retail giant reported better than expected first quarter results. The company also forecast second quarter earnings in line with analyst estimates.
"After trending lower in recent sessions, stocks are likely to show a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets."
Boy did you get this one wrong!