Here is what you need to know.
The House is set to vote on Trumpcare. President Donald Trump and House Republican leaders are making a last-minute push to secure the votes needed to move the GOP’s bid to overhaul the US healthcare system onto the Senate; 218 votes will be needed for the bill pass.
Yellen speaks. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will speak at the Community Development Conference in Washington, DC, starting at 8:45 a.m. ET.
New Zealand’s central bank keeps policy on hold. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand held its key interest rate at 1.75%, as expected, and said, “Monetary policy will remain accommodative for a considerable period.”
UK retail sales shake off Brexit fears. Retail sales climbed 1.4% month-over-month in February and 3.7% year-over-year, data released by the Office for National Statistics showed on Thursday. “The underlying trend suggests that rising petrol prices in particular have had a negative effect on the overall quantity of goods bought over the last three months,” Kate Davies, a senior statistician at the Office for National Statistics, said.
Global steel production remains firm. Data released by the World Steel Association on Thursday showed 126.6 million tonnes of crude steel were produced in February, up 4.1% versus a year ago. About 48% of that, or 61.2 million tonnes, was produced in China.
Apple buys an app it once called 'most innovative.' Apple confirmed with Business Insider that it had purchased the automation app Workflow. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AT&T and Verizon pull ads from Google. The two companies pulled their ads from YouTube and other Google sites after it was discovered that some of their ads had appeared next to extremist videos.
Stock markets around the world are little changed. Japan's Nikkei (+0.2%) eked out a gain in Asia, and Germany's DAX (+0.1%) edges up in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open unchanged at 2,349.
Earnings reports trickle out. GameStop, KB Home, and Micron will report after markets close.
US economic data is light. Initial jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, and new-home sales will cross the wires at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is unchanged at 2.41%.