Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat open on Thursday, as investors continued to monitor key earnings reports while looking ahead to nonfarm payrolls data due on Friday, amid ongoing expectations for a September rate hike.
During early morning hours in New York, the blue-chip Dow futures fell 7 points, or 0.04%, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 1 point, or 0.04%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 4 points, or 0.08%.
The U.S. is to release weekly data on initial jobless claims at 8:30AM ET on Thursday. The report is expected to show that claims rose to 273,000 last week from 267,000 in the preceding week.
Market players also looked ahead to Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, amid ongoing expectations for a September rate hike. The consensus forecast is that the data will show jobs growth of 223,000 last month, while the jobless rate is forecast to hold steady at 5.3%.
Data on Wednesday showed that service sector activity in the U.S. grew at the fastest pace since August 2005 in July, while private sector employment data rose at the slowest pace in three months.
In earnings news, Keurig Green Mountain (NASDAQ:GMCR) plunged 31% after the Vermont-based coffee company announced the elimination of more than 300 jobs amid poor earnings over its last quarter.
Fitbit (NYSE:FIT) lost 11% even though the wearable-tech company reported first-quarter results that blew past expectations after the closing bell on Wednesday.
Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) was down 6.16% to $253.49 on heavy volume in pre-market trade after the electric-car maker forecast it would deliver fewer new cars this year than previously estimated.
On the upside, Michael Kors Holdings (NYSE:KORS) jumped 7% after releasing encouraging second quarter revenue figures ahead of the opening bell.
Mondelez (NASDAQ:MDLZ) rallied 8% after high-profile activist investor William Ackman revealed that he has built a $5.5 billion stake in the maker of Oreo cookies.
SeaWorld Entertainment (NYSE:SEAS), New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT), Viacom (NASDAQ:VIA), AMC Networks (NASDAQ:AMCX), Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK), Apache (NYSE:APA), Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) and Elizabeth Arden (NASDAQ:RDEN) are due to report quarterly earnings ahead of Thursday's opening bell.
After Thursday's close of trading, Bojangles (NASDAQ:BOJA), Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING), Noodles & Company (NASDAQ:NDLS), Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Allergan (NYSE:AGN_pa), Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA), Con Ed (NYSE:ED) and Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE:LGF) are scheduled to report.
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