Global Market Trend As Of July 7th, 2022

U.S. equity futures were trading higher Thursday morning, adding to the gains from the prior session. The major futures indexes suggest a gain of 0.4% when the opening bell rings on Wall Street.

U.S. stocks posted modest gains as investors looked at the possibility of another sizable rate hike from the Federal Reserve at the July meeting, according to the prior meeting minutes. This was aimed at curtailing red hot inflation.

Previously, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.4% to 3,845.08 on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2% to 31,037.68. The Nasdaq composite added 0.3% to 11,361.85.

Commodities, on Thursday, U.S. crude traded at $98 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 97 cents to $98.53 a barrel Wednesday. Brent crude, the price basis for international trading, traded at $100 per barrel in London. It tumbled $2.08 the previous session to $100.69.

The Energy Information Administration will release its inventory report for last week. Crude stockpiles are expected to fall by a little more than one million barrels, following a decline of almost 3 million barrels the previous week.

Economic calendar, the Labor Department is out with its count of new claims for unemployment benefits for last week. Expectations are for 230,000, little changed from 231,000 the previous week and holding slightly above pre-pandemic levels. 

The U.S. trade balance for May is expected to narrow for a second month to $84.9 billion. 

Bitcoin traded around $20,000.