US Stock Futures Rise as Jobless Claims Decline

US stocks experienced a lucky turn of fate on Thursday. Rate of unemployment unexpectedly went low and hit a point which is the lowest in the last three years. This obviously gave the market a strong push and let to good profit, especially when it was completely unforeseen. According to the statistics reported by the Labor Department the number of jobless claims recorded last week was 368,000. It went down by 20,000. It is the lowest recorded number of claims since May, 2008.


The downfall in the unemployment statistics resulted in a great upward activity in the stocks. Dow Jones Industrial Average had previously gone up by 85 points before the report. The recent dip in the unemployment rate added a further 108 points to 12,154 of Dow Jones. S&P 500 also benefitted from the recent decline in unemployment rate. It gained 14.5 points to 1,320.3. Nasdaq also reaped a good harvest. Nasdaq 100 futures (NDH11 2,372, +0.25, +0.01%) climbed 23.75 points to 2,347.

US business productivity went up by 2.6% in the fourth quarter as a separate report showed. The government had initially estimated a similar surge. Speculations are high that later in the year a price hike may emerge. In such circumstances the European Central Bank announced on Thursday that they are not going to change the rates but keep it at 1%. ECB Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said that in order to find a solution to inflation issues a close and continuous survey of the financial market is necessary.

The worries regarding the rising oil prices were eased a bit on Wednesday as the stocks gradually went towards a higher point helped by data signaling strength in the job market. When the market closed the price of oil was $102 a barrel. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 12,258, +191.40, +1.59%) reported a gain of 8.78 points, or slightly less than 0.1%. On Thursday crude oil futures edged down. Crude for April delivery fell $1.39 to $100.84 a barrel in Globex electronic trading. Venezuela President Hugo Chavez made an attempt to strike a treaty of peace in Libya. Oil prices had dropped reportedly following this news. But the reduction in oil prices was transformed into a hike once again. The reason is the recent development of fresh air strikes launched against the Libyan town of Brega.

A strong performance for international stock market was reflected in the latest upward pace of the US stocks future. The idea was supported by the recent statistics. U.K.’s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 6,005, +90.20, +1.52%) went up 1.2% in midday trading and Japan’s Nikkei 225 Average closing up 0.9%.

The Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing index for February will be released at 10 a.m. Economists predict that the index will remain at 59.4% as it had in last January. Friday will reveal another set of statistics. It is the closely monitored nonfarm-payrolls figures for February. Stocks that could experience serious trading on Thursday include News Corp. (NWS 18.49, +0.34, +1.87%) after the U.K. government approved it to buy the 61% of British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (UK:BSY 823.00, 0.00, 0.00%) it doesn’t already own, on the condition that it spins off the satellite broadcaster’s news channel.