5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday July 22

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis investors need to start their trading day:

U.S. equity futures pointed to a third straight day of gains, making Monday’s sell-off a distant memory. The Dow Jones rose another 286 points, or 0.8%, on Wednesday. Coupled with Tuesday’s 549 point gain, the 30 stock average turned positive for the week. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also gained nearly 1% on Wednesday. All three benchmarks, before Wall Street opened on Thursday, were within 1% of their last high closing July 12.

Investors appear to have shaken off their immediate concerns about the spread of the delta variant and the increase in Covid cases. The 10-year Treasury yield rose again to 1.3% on Thursday after hitting a 5.5-month low of nearly 1.13% earlier in the week. Bond yields move in the opposite direction to bond prices.

Economists expect initial jobless claims of 350,000 for the past week. It would be a new low in the Covid era. The government is expected to release its weekly claims report at 8:30 a.m. ET, one hour before the opening bell. New claims for unemployment benefits totaled 360,000 the previous week, the best number since March 2020.

Also coming Thursday, at 10 a.m. ET, the National Association of Realtors is releasing its June report on existing home sales. Economists expect an increase of 2.2% to an annual rate of 5.93 million units. Sales of existing homes fell 0.9% in May.

Snap and Twitter will be the first of major ad-supported internet companies to report profits on Thursday after the bell, while Alphabet’s Google, Facebook, Pinterest and Amazon will follow next week. Apple’s recent privacy changes are unlikely to affect those Q2 tech earnings.

AT&T beat analyst estimates on Thursday for monthly additions of subscribers paying phone bills in the second quarter, fueled by more Americans converting to 5G. WarnerMedia, the company’s media unit, added 2.8 million U.S. subscribers to its HBO premium channel and HBO Max streaming platform during the quarter. In May, AT&T agreed to separate and combine its media assets with Discovery in a deal expected to be reached in mid-2022. AT & T’s earnings per share of 89 cents exceeded expectations, as did sales of just over $ 44 billion. Shares rose about 1.5% in the pre-market.

American Airlines reported second-quarter profit on Thursday, benefiting from federal aid and increased travel demand. The Fort Worth-based carrier reported a net profit of $ 19 million, recording five consecutive quarters of losses. However, after adjusting for one-time items, American lost $ 1.69 per share, less than expected. Revenue increased 360% year-over-year to $ 7.48 billion after the Covid collapse last year. Sales fell another 35% compared to Q2 2019.

Southwest also reported an increase in revenue during the quarter. Sales of the Dallas-based airline rose nearly 300% from the previous year to $ 4 billion. This is still a 32% decrease from the period of 2019. Second quarter net income totaled $ 348 million, down from a loss of $ 915 million a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Southwest lost 35 cents per share, more than expected. Southwest and US stocks were weaker in the pre-market.

White House chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci said fully vaccinated people might consider wearing masks indoors as a precaution against the rapidly spreading delta variant. Some areas of the country are reimplementing mask warrants due to spikes in cases. The most transmissible variant now accounts for around 83% of sequenced Covid cases in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The variants are more transmissible than the original strain and some reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.

– Reuters contributed to this report. Follow all the market action like a pro on CNBC Pro. Get the latest pandemic news with CNBC’s coronavirus coverage.