European stocks are expected to open flat on Thursday ahead of key U.S. labor market data expected to give more information about the state of the U.S. economy.
London’s FTSE is seen opening 2 points higher at 7,023, Germany’s DAX down 6 points at 15,444, France’s CAC 40 up 3 points at 6,393 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 14 points higher at 24,745, according to IG.
The tepid start for European markets matches mixed sentiment elsewhere. U.S. stock futures were slightly lower in overnight trading on Wednesday as investors await the new labor-market data. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 73 points, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were both trading in mildly negative territory.
U.S. weekly jobless claims data comes out Thursday morning. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones are expecting a total of 425,000 Americans to have filed unemployment benefits in the week ended May 22. In the week prior, jobless claims reached a fresh pandemic-era low of 444,000.
