US Stock Market: Dow futures indicate a muted start on April 24—Key things to track on this day

US Share Market News, Dow Futures Latest: Is Wall Street fearing up to make a weak start to Thursday's session? Dow Jones futures, an early indicator of the Wall Street benchmark index Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), fell as much as 268 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 39,507 in the early hours in the US on Thursday. A negative opening on Wall Street on April 24 will be in stark contrast to the previous session, wherein the three main US gauges closed 1-2.5 per cent higher on the back of hopes about easing US-China trade tensions, earnings-led gains in blue-chips like Tesla and Boeing, and the Donald Trump administration's signal that it has no plans to remove Fed Chair Jerome Powell from his post prematurely. 

Dow Jones set for a weak start on April 24? What DJIA futures are signalling

At 1:46 am Eastern Time (12:21 pm in India), Dow futures were down 159 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 39,616. 

Meanwhile, Indian equity benchmarks Nifty 50 and Sensex were on track to snap a rare seven-day winning run that helped the Sensex surge 6,269.3 points, or 8.5 per cent. The broader, 50-scrip Nifty index rose 1,929.8 points, or 8.6 per cent, during this period.

ALSO READ: Black Monday on Dalal Street: 4 main factors causing violent Nifty 50 market crash

Fed Beige Book takeaways 

The American central bank released its 'Beige Book', a periodic report offering a qualitative summary of the economic conditions in the world's largest economy. 

Here are some of the key points highlighted in the report: 

• Underlying economic data continues to look steady despite trade policy-related uncertainty looming large over the American economy
• Business sentiment has become cautious
• Finding the right balance seems to be tricky ahead of the next FOMC meeting (Fed's rate-deciding panel is scheduled to meet next month)
• Except auto sales, which continue to be solid, consumer spending seems to be weakening
• Travel is losing pace with international tourism declining
• More districts reporting downward trends in economic activity since the previous report 

US Share Market Triggers | Key Things to Watch Out for on Thursday, April 24

Here are some of the key data points to look out for: 

• US jobless claims data
• US home sales data
• Natural gas stockpiles data

How Dow Jones Fared on Wednesday, April 23

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones index closed more than one percentage point higher, though it gave up about two-thirds of its intraday gains.

• Dow: up 419.6 points, or 1.1 per cent, at 39,606.6
• S&P 500: up 99.7 points, or 1.9 per cent, at 5,387.4
• Nasdaq Composite: up 407.6 points, or 2.5 per cent, at 16,708.1 Read more on April 23 session

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