The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher open on Thursday, with stocks likely to see further upside after ending yesterday's volatile session mostly higher.
The upward momentum on Wall Street comes after President Donald Trump indicated he will announce a U.S.-U.K. trade deal during a press conference in the Oval Office this morning.
"The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
"Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement," he added. "Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!"
The announcement may help further ease uncertainty about trade following yesterday's news that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet with China's lead representative on economic matters during a trip to Switzerland.
After moving mostly lower over the two previous sessions, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged, particularly in the latter part of the session.
The major averages eventually ended the day in positive territory. The Dow advanced 284.97 points or 0.7 percent to 41,113.79, the S&P 500 climbed 24.37 points or 0.4 percent to 5,631.28 and the Nasdaq rose 48.50 points or 0.3 percent to 17,738.16.
The higher close on the day partly reflected a late-day by rally by semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.7 percent.
The strength in the sector came after a report from Bloomberg said the Trump administration plans to rescind Biden-era AI chip curbs as part of a broader effort to revise semiconductor trade restrictions.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the repeal seeks to refashion a policy that created three broad tiers of countries for regulating the export of chips from Nvidia (NVDA) and others.
Airline stocks also ended the day notably higher after an early rally, resulting in a 1.2 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
The volatility on the day also came as traders reacted to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement.
While the Fed left interest rates unchanged as widely expected, the central bank also warned of increasing risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation.
Commodity, Currency Markets
Crude oil futures are jumping $1.10 to $59.17 a barrel after tumbling $1.02 to $58.07 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after slumping $30.90 to $3,391.90 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are plunging $35.40 to $3,356.50 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 144.65 yen versus the 143.83 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1311 compared to yesterday's $1.1301.
Asia
Asian stocks rose broadly on Thursday as traders reacted to the Federal Reserve's status-quo rate decision and awaited cues from upcoming trade negotiations between China and the United States.
The dollar index was largely steady in Asian trading as Goldman Sachs raised its inflation forecast, in part to account for dollar weakness. Gold drifted lower, while oil edged up slightly after falling more than $1 in the previous session.
China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 percent to 3,352 as defense stocks surged amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed up 0.4 percent at 22,775.92, giving up some early gains after Chinese authorities rolled out interest rate cuts and other moves to help support the faltering economy.
Japanese markets eked out modest gains as chip-related shares followed their U.S. peers higher. The Nikkei 225 Index climbed 0.4 percent to 36,928.63, while the broader Topix Index finished marginally higher at 2,698.72.
Advantest surged 3.7 percent, Tokyo Electron gained a little over 2 percent and Screen Holdings added 1.4 percent.
NTT Data Group soared nearly 17 percent on a Nikkei report that telecoms giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone plans to launch a tender offer worth up to 3 trillion yen ($20 billion) to buy the remaining shares in the company.
Seoul stocks edged up slightly, with the Kospi rising 0.2 percent to 2,579.48, marking its third straight session of gains. Battery and retail shares paced the gainers, with LG Energy Solution adding 1.6 percent and POSCO Future M rallying 3.1 percent.
Australian markets ended modestly higher after a choppy session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index inched up by 0.2 percent to 8,191.70, while the broader All Ordinaries Index gained 0.3 percent to close at 8,421.70.
Transurban Group shares advanced 1.7 percent as the toll road operator said it would cut hundreds of jobs in a bid to "streamline" operations.
Lender ANZ fell 1.9 percent after it posted flat cash earnings for the first half and flagged market realignment from global trade shifts.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 12,467.03.
Europe
European stocks are moving higher on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled progress toward a first trade deal in his global tariff dispute without providing further details.
A news conference in the Oval Office is scheduled for 10 a.m. Washington time, with reports suggesting that Trump is likely to announce a framework of a trade deal with the U.K.
In economic news, German industrial production increased 3.0 percent month-on-month in March, in contrast to the 1.3 percent decrease in February, data from Destatis revealed. Output was expected to grow 0.9 percent.
German exports increased 1.1 percent on a monthly basis in March, but this was weaker than February's 1.8 percent gain, separate set of data showed. Shipments were expected to climb 1.0 percent.
Elsewhere, U.K. house prices climbed 0.3 percent on a monthly basis in April after falling for two straight months, data published by mortgage lender Halifax revealed.
Prices were expected to grow 0.2 percent, following a 0.5 percent drop in March and a 0.2 percent decrease in February.
While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are up by 1.1 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
SGL Carbon SE, a German carbon and graphite product maker, rose about 1 percent after confirming its FY25 outlook.
Puma jumped 4 percent. The sportswear brand reaffirmed its full-year guidance after reporting flat first-quarter sales.
Infineon climbed 2.8 percent. The company has received final approval for the funding of its new semiconductor manufacturing lab in Dresden from the German government.
Siemens Energy added 3.2 percent as it delivered better-than-expected Q2 earnings and lifted its FY25 outlook.
AB InBev, the world's largest brewer, rallied 3.4 percent as Q1 earnings beat expectations.
Staffing company Adecco SA soared 6.2 percent after upbeat first-quarter results.
Packaging firm Mondi rose 3.3 percent after posting a sequential rise in first-quarter profit.
U.S. Economic News
First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits saw a modest decline in the week ended May 3rd, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 228,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 241,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 230,000.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average inched up to 227,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 226,000.
The Labor Department also released a separate report showing a pullback by U.S. labor productivity in the first quarter of 2025 along with a sharp increase by unit labor costs.
The report said labor productivity fell by 0.8 percent in the first quarter after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Economists had expected labor productivity to decrease by 0.4 percent compared to the 1.5 percent increase that had been reported for the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, the report said unit labor costs soared by 5.7 percent in the first quarter after shooting up by a revised 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter.
Economists had expected unit labor costs to spike by 5.3 percent compared to the 2.2 percent surge originally reported for the previous quarter.
At 10 am ET, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on wholesale inventories in the month of March. Wholesale inventories are expected to climb by 0.5 percent in March after rising by 0.3 percent in February, unchanged from the preliminary estimate.
The Treasury Department is scheduled to announce the results of this month's auction of $25 billion worth of twenty-year bonds at 1 pm ET.
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May 30, 2025 12:05 ET Revised economic growth data from the U.S. economy was the highlight of the week that also saw the release of survey data reflecting the confidence among households regarding the economy and their financial situation. In Europe, the main news was the official survey results of the monthly economic sentiment survey. In the Asia-Pacific, two main central banks – South Korea and New Zealand, announced their policy decisions.