Stock market today: Wall Street poised to open with gains as more earnings, economic data arrives

Wall Street was on track to open with gains Thursday on another big day for corporate earnings and the latest government economic data.

Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.4% before the bell while futures the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved 0.1% higher. Nasdaq futures pointed up 0.8%.

Elevance Health shares skidded 12.3% after the health insurer missed Wall Street's third-quarter profit projections and warned that rising medial costs threatened to drag on future earnings.

Railroad operator CSX tumbled 4.7% in extended trading after it said Wednesday that it expects only modest volume growth the rest of the year as the Southeast rebuilds after two major hurricanes.

The Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad reported per-share profit for its most recent quarter that came in lower than analysts had forecast and said it expects a $50 million drag on its fourth-quarter results as it repairs tracks damaged by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Shares of Expedia jumped 6.7% after the Financial Times reported that the ride-hailing app Uber had considered a takeover bid for travel booking site.

Taiwan Semiconductor jumped 9.6% after its third-quarter sales and profit beat analyst forecasts. The company also issued rosy fourth-quarter guidance, boosted by expected demand for artificial intelligence-related products.

Coming later Thursday morning are government reports on retail sales and layoffs. Retail sales are expected to rise for the third straight month, while layoffs are projected to come in higher again, suggesting the job market continues to soften from the pressure of elevated interest rates.

European stocks gained in anticipation that the European Central Bank will cut borrowing costs.

The rate-setting council of the ECB, which sets interest rates for the 20 countries that use the euro currency, is expected to lower its benchmark rate from 3.5% to 3.25% after figures showed inflation across the bloc falling to its lowest level in more than three years and economic growth waning.

Germany's DAX gained 0.6% and the CAC 40 in Paris advanced 0.8%. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 8,367.96.

In Asian trading, Chinese markets fell back after officials in Beijing announced the government was expanding financing for housing projects to try to turn around a slump in the property market triggered by a crackdown on excessive borrowing by developers.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1% to 20,079.10, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 1.1% to 3,169.38.

China is due to announce its economic growth data for the April-September quarter on Friday. Economists are forecasting annual growth at about 4.5%, short of the government's target of about 5%.

China's leaders have promised more measures to help boost the economy, but so far have not provided details of stimulus on a scale that would satisfy investors hoping to see reforms that might address longer term problems such as massive local debt and weak consumer demand.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index lost 0.7% to 38,911.19 after the government reported Japan's exports fell 1.7% from a year earlier in September, widening the country's trade deficit.

South Korea's Kospi slipped less than 0.1% to 2,609.30 and in Australia the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.9% to 8,355.90.

Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.2% and India's Sensex was down 0.6%. In Thailand, the SET gained 0.7% a day after the central bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, to 2.25%.

The price of oil rose early Thursday. After surging recently it has fallen back as worries recede that Israel will attack Iranian oil facilities as part of its retaliation for Iran’s missile attack early this month. Iran is a major producer of crude, and a strike could upend its exports to China and elsewhere. Concerns about the strength of demand because of China’s flagging economic growth have also hit oil prices.

U.S. benchmark crude oil was up 7 cents at $70.46 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 8 cents to $74.30 per barrel.

The dollar fell to 149.55 Japanese yen from 149.64 yen. The euro rose to $1.0864 from $1.0862.