STOCK MARKET NEWS: Bed Bath & Beyond tanks, jobless claims, housing data in focus

U.S. equity futures turned higher after being lower overnight, following a day that saw stocks fall after the Federal Reserve said U.S. inflation is too high, suggesting support for more aggressive interest rate hikes.

The major futures indexes suggest a small gain when trading begins on Wall Street.

Oil prices added to gains Thursday morning.

U.S. crude futures traded around $89.00 a barrel. Brent crude futures traded around $94.00 a barrel.

Watch shares of Bed, Bath & Beyond, which are 12% lower in premarket trading following an earlier 45% surge. At the root of the wild swings is investor and GameStop Chairman Ryan Cohen who filed for a proposed sale of his stake in the struggling home goods retailer.

Meanwhile, shares of the chipmaker Wolfspeed are up 22% in premarket trading. The developer of wide bandgap semiconductors topped Wall Street revenue and profit estimates.

The parade of retail-related earnings continues Thursday, with BJ’s Wholesale Club, Kohl’s, Coach and Kate Spade parent Tapestry, and Estee Lauder reporting ahead of the opening bell. 

Economic reports include jobless claims and existing home sales.

Asian markets following the U.S. session lower. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 0.9%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.8% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5%.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.7% to 4,274.04 on Wednesday. The loss wiped out the week’s gains and left the index down 0.1% since Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.5% to 33,980.32 and the Nasdaq slid 1.3%. to 12,938.12.

The Commerce Department reported July retail sales were flat compared with the previous month. Retail chain Target fell 2.7% after reporting a nearly 90% plunge in second quarter profits.