On the heels of the recovery seen over the course of the previous session, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to roughly flat open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by just 18 points.
Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves as they wait for further developments regarding a new fiscal stimulus bill.
Both Democrats and Republicans have offered new stimulus proposals, although it remains to be seen if lawmakers will finally reach an agreement after months of stagnation.
In a joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said a bipartisan framework introduced recently should be used as the basis for immediate negotiations.
"Of course, we and others will offer improvements, but the need to act is immediate and we believe that with good-faith negotiations we could come to an agreement," Pelosi and Schumer said.
"With the imminent availability of the vaccine, it is important for there to be additional funding for distribution to take the vaccine to vaccination," the Democratic leaders added.
Some buying interest may be generated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing a much bigger than expected pullback in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended November 28th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped to 712,000, a decrease of 75,000 from the previous week's revised level of 787,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 775,000 from the 778,000 originally reported for the previous month.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release a more closely watched report on the employment situation in the month of November.
Economists expect employment to increase by 481,000 jobs in November after jumping by 638,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to edge down to 6.8 percent from 6.9 percent.
Shortly after the start of trading, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its report on activity in the service sector in the month of November.
The ISM's services PMI is expected to edge down to 56.0 in November after dipping to 56.6 in October, although a reading above 50 would still indicate growth.
After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks showed a significant turnaround over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages all climbed well off their worst levels of the day, with the Dow and the S&P 500 closing in positive territory.
The major averages finished the day mixed, as the Nasdaq edged down 5.74 points or 0.1 percent to 12,349.37. The Dow rose 59.87 points or 0.2 percent to 29,883.79 and the S&P 500 inched up 6.56 points or 0.2 percent to a new record closing high of 3,669.01.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index closed just above the unchanged line, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in another mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has risen by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are both down by 0.4 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are edging down $0.02 to $45.26 a barrel after climbing $0.73 to $45.28 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after advancing $11.30 to $1,830.20 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $12.90 to $1,843.10 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 104.05 yen versus the 104.42 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.2150 compared to yesterday's $1.2115.
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