Stock futures rose slightly Thursday as Wall Street looked for two key signals of U.S. consumer health and more insight into the labor market. Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F) rose 0.1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) pointed to a 0.2% gain.
Earnings from retail giant Walmart (WMT) and monthly government sales data took center stage Thursday morning. Both data points could help answer growing questions about the resilience of American consumers.
Walmart shares, for their part, rose nearly 6% after a largely positive report that reported both profit and revenue beats. The company also raised its full-year outlook.
Retail sales, meanwhile, are due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect a 0.3% month-on-month increase in July, which would be a boost from June’s flat reading — which was still better than expected.
Also in focus is the normally routine weekly update on jobless claims. Last week, those claims fell more than forecast, leading to a market rally that has largely carried over into this week. As Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer writes, with inflation continuing to ease, the labor market is “where the action is going to be” for the Fed for the foreseeable future.
Stocks have skyrocketed after a brutal start to August, including on Wednesday’s session after the consumer price index posted its weakest year-over-year gain since early 2021. The S&P 500 has recovered nearly all of the losses from the sell-off that began early in the month.
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