Options Trading News

U.S. equity indexes are pointing to a higher open ahead of the jobless claims report at 8:30 a.m. ET, which has a consensus estimate of 379,000.

The S&P 500 June futures are higher by 3.5 points to 1401, while the Nasdaq 100 futures are up 7.5 points at 2735. Even with these gains in stocks, the dollar is higher against the euro by 0.2 percent to 79.35--reversing the negative correlation between the greenback and equities.

Early this morning France's Societe Generale reported that profit shrank less than expected, boosting all European exchanges. The U.K. FTSE 100 is leading the pack with a 1.49 percent gain, followed by a 1.29 percent rise in the French CAC 40. Strong quarterly results from BMW are also helping lift stocks.

Commodity markets are reflecting the euro/dollar's weakness with front-month crude-oil futures down 0.25 percent to 104.98, under yesterday's 105 support level. Copper futures are reflecting weakness in Hong Kong stocks, down 0.57 percent to 3.7655 a contract.

Spot gold and silver futures are off 0.5 percent each as of this writing. Gold is trading for 1646.30 a contract while silver sits at 30.465.

Asian indexes are mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 is higher by 0.3 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is lower by 0.28 percent.

General Motors is up 0.65 percent after reporting this morning that first-quarter profit fell less than expected. Whole Foods is gaining as well, up 3.9 percent after posting better-than-expected results in yesterday's post-market.

Visa is lower in pre-market trading after announcing last night that the Justice Department is investigating its debit-card strategy.