10 things you need to know before the opening bell
Housing affordability in America is the worst in nearly a decade and there's one clear culprit. Mortgage rates hit their highest level in seven years last month, and the national average 30-year fixed rate is now above 4.4%, according to Bankrate.com.
India has the world's fastest growing population of millionaires. The number of millionaires in India grew by 20% to 263,000 people in 2017, according to data from Capgemini.
Global markets are flashing an ominous signal that investors are bracing for the worst. Morgan Stanley highlights one statistic that suggests investors are getting more risk averse, and that the end of the cycle could be here even sooner than expected.
Daimler warns on 2018. The German car maker warned on Thursday that its 2018 earnings before interest and taxes will be slightly below last year as a result of the trade war and emissions clamp-down, Reuters says.
One of the world's largest commercial-real-estate companies is going public. Cushman & Wakefield on Wednesday announced plans for an initial public offering that will help it reduce its debt burden, a filing showed.
GE slips after getting kicked out of the Dow. General Electric fell 0.31% on Wednesday following word it will be replaced by Walgreens Boot Alliance in the Dow Jones industrial average.
Bank stress tests are coming. On Thursday, the Federal Reserve will release the results of its annual stress tests, which are designed to give a "forward-looking assessment of capital sufficiency using standard capital plan assumptions across all firms."
Stock markets around the world are mostly lower. China's Shanghai Composite (-1.37%) was hit hard in Asia and Germany's DAX (-0.91%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open down 0.22% near 2,761.
Earnings reporting remains light. Darden Restaurants and Kroger both report ahead of the opening bell.
US economic flows. Initial claims and the Philly Fed will both be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before the FHFA House Price Index crosses the wires at 9 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 3 basis points at 2.91%.