U.S. stocks were set to gain at the open, lifted by better-than-expected earnings from Dow component Alcoa who kicked off the third-quarter season by reporting after yesterday’s close.
Futures added to their early gains after a better-than-expected report on jobless claims. The Labor Department said that the number of workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to a nine-month low last week. Initial claims dropped 33,000 to a seasonally adjusted 521,000 in the week ending October 3rd. The number of people filing continuing claims fell 72,000 to 6.04 million in the week ending September 26th, the latest week for which data is available. That was the lowest level since March and below market expectations for 6.1 million. The measure has trended lower for three weeks, but this could also indicate that many jobless workers have exhausted their benefits.
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