CNBC Thursday Update - Stock Market

May 5, 2011

TODAYS PRIMER
CNBC.com Staff

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open for Wall Street on Thursday as investors gear up for another set of jobs numbers ahead of Friday’s key nonfarm payrolls report and focus on interest rate decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.

Unemployment
The latest weekly jobless claims, another guide for Friday's key April jobs report after private payrolls and job cuts were released on Wednesday, are due at 8:30 am ET.

Initial claims are seen falling to 400,000 from 429,000, according to Briefing.com.
Productivity and unit labor cost data for the first quarter is also released at 8:30 am.

Sales - Chain Stores
April chain store sales are also due on Thursday. Discounters and department stores are expected to lead the gains, according to Thomson Reuters, which sees an average 8.2 percent same stores sales increase for the retailers it tracks. This year's late Easter holiday is the main reason behind the big jump in April.

Over in Europe, the Bank of England is expected to leave rates unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent due to a weak economic outlook, and analysts expect the ECB (European Central Bank) to keep rates on hold as well after April’s quarter-point rate hike to 1.25 percent.

European shares were lower in morning trade, led down by banks.

Other
News Corp is among stocks in focus after it missed profit expectations, while Whole Foods Market beat expectations and saw its stock rise in after-hours trade.
General Motors, CVS Caremark and DirecTV are among companies reporting earnings before Thursday’s opening bell.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect General Motors to have earned 91 cents per share in the first quarter on revenue of $35.6 billion.

Federal Reserve
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at 9:30 am at a Chicago Fed conference on bank structure and competition.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans makes opening remarks just ahead of him, at the same event.