The S&P 500 Futures is trading at 4,163.12 with +0.21% percent or +8.87 point.Other U.S. stock futures lower in pre-market trading for May 20.The Dow Futures is trading at 34,097.50 with +0.20% percent or +69.50 point.The Nasdaq Futures is trading at 13,519.10 with +0.24% percent or +32.62 point.

THURSDAY’S FACTORS AND EVENTS

WEDNESDAY’S ACTIVITY

For the day the Dow is trading at 34,084.15 up with 0.55% percent or +188.11 point. The S&P 500 is trading at 4,159.12 up with +1.06% percent or +43.44 point. The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 13,535.74 up with +1.77% percent or +236.00 point.

Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed  at2,207.76 up with +0.64% percent or +14.12 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 1,337.78  up with +0.32% percent or  +4.25 point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 2,683.53 up with +0.40% percent or +10.74 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,886.16 up with +1.15%percent or  +21.41 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 2,479.42 up with +1.08% percent or +26.53 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 2,336.71 up  with +1.11% or +25.72 point.

In other parts of world, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading at at 28,291.49 up with  +0.69%percent or +193.24 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading at 28,435.27 with a loss of –0.053% percent or –15.02 point. China’s Shanghai  Composite is trading at 3,491.96 with a loss of –0.43% percent or –14.99 point. India’s BSE Sensex is trading at 50,289.90 up with +1.46% percent or +725.04 point at 12:15 PM.For the day the FTSE 100 closed at 7,019.79 up with  +1.00% percent or +69.59 point. France’s CAC  40 closed at 6,343.58 up with +1.29% percent or +81.03 point.Germany’s DAX closed at 15,370.26 up with +1.70% percent or +256.70 point.