Dow futures rise 30 pts; debt ceiling bill progress helps tone

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally higher Thursday after a deal to lift the debt ceiling passed through the House of Representatives, making a calamitous U.S. default less likely.

At 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT), the Dow futures contract was up 30 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 futures traded 10 points, or 0.3% higher, and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 30 points, or 0.2%.

The tense situation surrounding the U.S. debt ceiling may be moving toward a conclusion in the coming days after the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday in favor of a deal lifting the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit.

The bill, which would suspend the debt ceiling until 2025 and cap some government spending, now heads to the Senate, with the upper chamber's majority leader Chuck Schumer saying he plans to bring the measure to the floor "as soon as possible."

This means the bill has a strong chance of being enacted into law before a potentially catastrophic government default on June 5.

With a potential default losing its power to impact markets, investors are increasingly turning back to the Federal Reserve’s next meeting, on June 13-14, as the next likely catalyst.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker said on Wednesday that he is inclined to vote for a pause in interest rate hikes at the get-together, but crucially he added Friday’s payrolls numbers "may change my mind."

The official U.S. jobs report at the end of this week is expected to show that nonfarm payrolls increased by 180,000 in May, a drop from 253,000 the prior month.

However, data released Wednesday showed that job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased by 358,000 to 10.1 million on the last day of April, ending three straight monthly decreases in job vacancies, while March’s release was also revised higher.

The May ADP nonfarm employment report as well as weekly initial jobless claims are due later in the session, and will provide more data for the market (and Fed officials) to digest.

In corporate news, quarterly earnings are due from the likes of chip maker Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) and discount retailer Dollar General (NYSE:DG).

Additionally, Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) stock rose almost 6% premarket after the department store operator reported better-than-expected sales for the April quarter.

By contrast, Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) stock fell 5.5% after the cloud-based software company posted an 11% rise in quarterly revenue, its slowest pace of growth in 13 years, as companies dialed back spending.

Oil prices fluctuated between gains and losses as traders digested a positive private survey of Chinese manufacturing activity as well as an unexpected, large build in U.S. crude stocks.

Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. crude inventories rose by around 5.2 million barrels last week. If confirmed by official data later in the session, this could trigger concerns of oversupply in the largest consumer market in the world.

By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.7% lower at $67.59 a barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 0.7% to $72.08. 

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,983.75/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% higher at 1.0709.