US data on the agenda this afternoon as S+P 500 futures hold gains

Further to my last update on the price action in the US equity futures, the Nasdaq 100 has now advanced further and pricing a reopening above 18,100. That is helping to support the S+P 500 futures. They are right now pricing a reopening above 5,120, where the index closed last night at 5,104. Ahead of that reopening we do have some US economic releases that can shift the outlook at 1.30pm GMT. Those are the latest weekly jobless claims (expected 216k versus 215k) and the final Q4 unit wage cost data (expected +0.7% versus +0.5%). The February Challenger jobs lay-off data has already been released and that was slightly higher, but only by a couple of thousand. So, whilst the outlook for the S+P opening remains positive, it is subject to change over the next couple of hours, or so