⁍ In early Asian trade, futures for Japan’s Nikkei 225 index were up 0.3%.
⁍ U.S. lawmakers were still trying to hammer out a roughly $2 trillion stimulus deal.
⁍ Jobless claims fell more than expected and existing home sales exceeded estimates.
– The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 finished higher on Thursday, helped by better-than-expected jobless claims and existing home sales, reports MarketWatch. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also added to their gains. Lawmakers were still trying to hammer out a roughly $2 trillion stimulus deal, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying that he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had not spoken during the day. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she and Mnuchin had not spoken during the day. “There will be a positive bias to the opening tone in Asian trade,” a market analyst at CommSec in Australia tells Reuters. “But regional investors won’t necessarily hang their hats on that outcome, the markets can move around quite quickly.”
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets/asian-stocks-set-for-slight-gains-after-wall-street-ends-higher-idUSKBN2773AP