NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures ticked higher on Thursday ahead of labor and factory data, while developments in the Ukrainian crisis kept traders on edge.
Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum for March 16 on the decision, in a dramatic escalation of the crisis between Russia and the West over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula.
Moscow stocks <.MCX> fell 2.5 percent and the ruble
weakened 0.8 percent versus the U.S. dollar after the Crimean vote. A U.S.-traded Russian ETF
The U.S. economic calendar includes weekly applications for unemployment insurance at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT), with sales and orders for long-lasting items due at 10:00 a.m. EST.
S&P 500 e-mini futures rose 3.5 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 31 points and Nasdaq 100 futures added 4.5 points.
On Wednesday, major U.S. equity indexes were little changed, with the S&P 500 down just 0.1 point from its record close Tuesday.
Costco
Shares of Staples
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
