US equity futures experienced an uptick ahead of Thursday's opening bell, marking the beginning of 2025 on a positive note as traders analyzed the newly released jobless claims data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures demonstrated a rise of 0.7%, while the S&P 500 futures increased by 0.8%, and Nasdaq futures saw an uptick of 1%.
In the commodities market, oil prices also exhibited growth, with the front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude rising by 1.3% to $75.61 per barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate crude increasing by 1.4%, landing at $72.67 per barrel. New unemployment claims, released at 8:30 am ET, decreased to 211,000 for the week ending December 28, down from the previous week’s figure of 220,000.
This was in contrast to Bloomberg’s estimates, which anticipated an increase to 221,000 claims. The December Purchasing Managers' Manufacturing Index, expected at 9:45 am ET, is predicted to remain unchanged from its previous reading of 48.3 as reported in the flash estimates. Furthermore, construction spending, scheduled for release at 10 am ET, is projected to rise by 0.3% for November after a prior increase of 0.4%.
On the international front, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong recorded a decline of 2.2%, while the Shanghai Composite in China fell by 2.7%. The Japanese markets were closed in observance of a national holiday. In contrast, the UK's FTSE 100 rose by 0.7%, and Germany's DAX index experienced a gain of 0.2% during Europe's early afternoon trading session. In the equities market, Cloudflare ($NET) shares saw an impressive increase of over 6% before the opening bell, following an upgrade from Goldman Sachs, which improved its rating from sell to buy and raised the price target to $140 from a previous estimate of $77 per share.
Conversely, Neumora Therapeutics ($NMRA) faced significant losses, with shares plummeting more than 83%. This decline followed the company's announcement regarding a failed phase 3 trial for a candidate treatment aimed at addressing major depressive disorder, which did not meet its primary or key secondary endpoints..