Opening Comment — Thursday, February 12, 2026
DJIA: 50,121.40, down 66.74
S&P 500: 6,941.47, down 0.34
NASDAQ: 23,066.47, down 36.00
Stocks higher before unemployment claims data
Stock futures are higher Thursday morning ahead of today’s release of January’s existing home sales and fresh unemployment claims data. As of 7:15 AM ET, the Dow and the S&P 500 Index are both rising 0.3%. The Nasdaq 100 is also increasing 0.3% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were mostly lower on Wednesday as January’s nonfarm payrolls rose more than forecasted, with manufacturing payrolls also posting an unexpected increase. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3%, and the labor force participation rate inched up to 62.5%. The federal budget deficit narrowed in January, though less than anticipated. The Dow was down 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%. The S&P 500 was little changed with eight of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Energy sector was the top performer, rising 2.6%, while the Financials sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.5%.
On the data front, initial jobless claims for the week ending February 7 are expected to come in at 223,000, lower than the prior week’s 231,000, while continuing claims are expected to come in at 1.85 million for the week ending January 31, slightly up from the prior week’s 1.84 million. Existing home sales are forecasted to have been at an annualized 4.15 million pace in January versus the prior month’s 4.35 million pace, corresponding to a decrease of 4.6% month-over-month versus the prior month’s increase of 5.1%.
Across the pond, European stocks are mostly higher in mid-day trading as the U.K.’s preliminary fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) showed growth of 0.1% quarter over quarter (QOQ) and 1.0% year over year (YOY), while GDP rose 0.1% month over month (MOM) in December. The country’s preliminary fourth-quarter trade data showed a 0.6% QOQ decline in exports and a 0.8% QOQ increase in imports. British industrial production fell 0.9% MOM in December, and YOY growth came in at 0.5%.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mixed as Japan’s Producer Price Index (PPI) for January increased 0.2% MOM, up from 0.1% in the prior month, while the YOY gain eased to 2.3% from the previous month’s increase of 2.4%.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is little changed ahead of today’s U.S. fresh unemployment claims data.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.2% lower at $64.52/barrel following an unexpected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.3% lower at $5,067.38/ounce.