Stock Market Today News Report and Stock Markets: Game, Quotes, Crash, Hours, Dummies, and Tips

Economists looked by MarketWatch had expected the Labor Department to report an increase in initial claims, to 410,000.Trading in U.S. stock futures followed a choppy pattern with investors on edge after the previous session’s plunge, while shares of Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO +16.10% rallied in premarket trade on better-than-expected results.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJ1U +2.98% fell 49 points to 10,676 at last check. Trading was very volatile and sentiment was fragile; Dow futures had been up more than 200 points earlier.Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index SP1U +0.37% slipped 5.50 points to 1,118, while Nasdaq 100 futures ND1U +0.59% dropped 1.75 points to 2,083.25.

“Market jitters remain extremely high and are even taking on near-absurd proportions,” said analysts at Raiffeisen Research in a note.The blue-chip Dow industrials DJIA +3.31% sank 519.83 points, or 4.6%, on Wednesday — the third consecutive trading day when the benchmark has swung more than 400 points.

Asian equity markets ended mixed overnight. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.6%, while China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 1.3%.In Europe, stock markets turned lower in late-morning trading. Shares of French banks were hit once again, with Societe Generale FR:GLE +3.70% down 7.4% in Paris.

Cisco in spotlight

Shares of blue chip Cisco Systems CSCO +16.10% surged 12% ahead of the opening bell. The networking equipment firm reported a 36% drop in fourth-quarter net profit, but its adjusted earnings and revenue beat analyst forecasts.

In other corporate news, department-store operator Kohl’s Corp. KSS +7.38% reported Thursday second-quarter results and raised its annual earnings forecast to a range between $4.45 and $4.60 a share, up from $4.25 to $4.40 a share.

After the close of trading in U.S. stocks, technology firm Nvidia Corp. NVDA +6.57% will report second-quarter results.

Shares of AOL Inc. AOL +13.31% could be active after the company announced a stock-buyback program pegged at $250 million.

In the currency markets, the U.S. dollar was marginally higher against most other major currencies, with the dollar index DXY -0.14% gaining to 74.965. The greenback managed a narrow gain on the euro.

December gold futures GC1Z -1.90% fell $13.30 to $1,772 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex.

September oil futures CL1U +0.97% slipped 65 cents to $82.24 a barrel.

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