U.S. stock futures drop ahead of jobless claims

U.S. stock futures edged lower Thursday, with investors staying on the sidelines after firm gains earlier in the week and ahead of jobless claims data.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMM6, -0.14% lost 30 points, or 0.2%, to 17,592, while those for the S&P 500 index ESM6, -0.17% dropped 4.20 points, or 0.2%, to 2,051. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index NQM6, -0.16% fell 10.50 points, or 0.2%, to 4,471.50.

The losses follow Wednesday’s positive close for U.S. equities as markets continued to benefit from dovish comments by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen. Overall, expectations that the Fed is on the cusp of raising interest rates again have fallen over the past month, helping boost U.S. stock markets.

The Dow average DJIA, +0.47% is on track for a 7.3% monthly gain, which would be the best since October. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.44% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.47% were also on track for their best monthly performances since October.

A report on weekly jobless claims is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, with a reading of 268,000 expected.

On the corporate side, Tesla Motors Inc. TSLA, -1.41% is expected to unveil a prototype of the Model 3, a $35,000 electric sedan, at an event Thursday evening in its Los Angeles-area design studio.

Source: MarketWatch