Chinese stocks rallied while some of U.S. futures gained

Stock futures strengthened moderately on Thursday. The latest checkup on U.S. weekly unemployment claims was better than expected, and China’s rally continued.

China-based names dominated the early trade. NetEase and JD.com were at the top of the Nasdaq 100, while Futu Holdings led the way among IBD 50 futures. Meanwhile, Carnival’s cruise lines stated that they are restarting their operations. However, Walgreens plunged to the bottom of the Dow Jones on Thursday.

The Nasdaq 100 futures soared by 0.8% above fair value, while the S&P 500 futures gained 0.3% on the stock market on Thursday. The Dow Jones futures also climbed up by 0.1%.

China’s mainland markets traded on the bullish territory for an eighth-straight session. The Shanghai Composite moved within a 4% range of their January 2018 high. Individual investors and traders have been piling into the Shenzhen and Shanghai markets after a raft of bullish articles from state-run media over the past week.

China-based stocks were quite strong early on Thursday. NetEase surged forward by more than 8%, while JD.com rallied by 4%, and Baidu jumped by 2.6%. Baidu is currently in a buy range above a handle buy point at 128.38.

How did Carnival fare?

Meanwhile, Cruise line Carnival skyrocketed by 4.4%, ending up at the top of the S&P 500. On Thursday, the company stated that it would roll out a gradual restart of its cruise operations, beginning in August. An analyst’s upgrade boosted Autodesk by 2.9%, now nearing the top of the S&P 500. F5 Networks gained 1.5% after an upgrade to the overweight category by Morgan Stanley.

The Labor Department announced that 1.314 million U.S. citizens filed first-time unemployment claims in the holiday-shortened week ending on July 4. Economists expected 1.375 million claims, however.

Notably, though, there were 113,000 claims fewer than those filed in the prior week. Additionally, the number of those insured lowered to 18.06 million for the week ending on June 27, with the four-week average at 19.09 million.