And now let's go out to Chicago to see how trade is shaping up following yesterday's Fed rate decision. FinTech TV correspondent Mark Payton is live from the Cboe trading floor. Good morning, Mark. So here we are on Thursday morning in the aftermath of the September Fed rate decision. So we've been looking at all asset classes.
But what do you focus on in premarket?
Yeah. Good morning, Rami. We're seeing a pretty nice rebound ahead of the opening bell this morning after yesterday's selloff following the Fed decision. S&P futures are up about 1.2%. And there are a couple of things helping stocks this morning. Treasury yields are coming back down. And oil, as you mentioned here, the VIX is around 5.5 with volatility settling back this morning.
So some of that anxiety we saw following yesterday's Fed decision is starting to come out of the market. And keep an eye on the Russell 2000 today. Small cap companies tend to be more sensitive to borrowing costs. So after the Fed raised rates yesterday, the Russell could give us a good read on how investors are processing this higher rate environment.
And then there's the 10 year Treasury yield back below 5%, around 4.95% this morning. So seeing yields come back down is taking some pressure off equities this morning. So all in all, a calmer picture here in Chicago this morning. Stocks pointing higher, volatility easing, yields coming down and oil pulling back.
Yeah. And in New York morning trade, we're also digesting a handful of U.S. data releases. And this does come on the heels of retail sales data which did come in stronger than expected earlier this week. But given what we're looking at in jobless claims as well as U.S. housing activity, as well as that Philly Fed index that we just got, break down some of these reports.
And what does it mean for the U.S. economy and Americans out there?
Yeah, there are really two different signals in these reports this morning. So first, on the labor market, initial jobless claims fell to 196,000 last week. That's down 10,000 from the week before when we were at 206,000. And it also came in below expectations. The four week average fell to just over 203,000.
And continuing claims dropped to 1.73 million. So the takeaway here is pretty straightforward. We're still not seeing a significant pickup in layoffs. And that's important, especially coming one day after the Fed raised rates. At least from this morning's claim data, the labor market continues to show some resilience.
Housing, though, is giving us somewhat of a different picture in U.S. construction activity. New building permits fell 2.7% from July to August, while new housing starts declined 2.6%. And I'd pay particular attention to permits because they're more forward looking, essentially giving us a look at what builders are planning next.
So when you put these numbers together, layoffs remain relatively low. But we're seeing some softness in new residential construction. And now investors have to weigh both those signals against a Fed that's still very focused on inflation.
All right.
Well, Mark, we are about 20 minutes until the market open here in New York. So we'll see how this trading session turns out. Thank you so much for joining us from CBOE this morning.
Thank you.
