US pre-open: Futures point to modest gains following rollercoaster session

Wall Street futures had major indices opening higher on Thursday after some rollercoaster trading in the previous session.

As of 1200 BST, Dow futures were up 0.29%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures had the indices opening 0.39% and 0.61% higher, respectively.

US stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday, with a late rally helping erase a massive drop earlier in the day that saw the Dow drop by as much as 589 points in a wild session.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note briefly slid below 1.6%, hitting its lowest level since 2016 in the process and further narrowing the spread versus the yield on two-year notes, a widely watched recession indicator. On Thursday, morning the 10-year yield was back up at around 1.7412%, although it remained far beneath the level of overnight interest rates.

Gold futures also jumped by more than 2.0% on Wednesday, sending them above the $1,500/oz. level for the first time in six years. In the process, its year-to-date gains also overtook those of the S&P 500.

Investors were also keeping an eye on the Chinese yuan after the nation's central bank set the official reference rate for the currency at 7.0039 yuan per US dollar on Thursday — its weakest level since April 2008.

On another front, Donald Trump took some fresh swings at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

"Our problem is a Federal Reserve that is too proud to admit their mistake of acting too fast and tightening too much," he tweeted. "Incompetence is a terrible thing to watch."

In terms of macro news, initial jobless claims for the week ended 3 August will be released alongside continuing claims data at 1330 BST, while wholesale inventories and trade numbers will be posted at 1500 BST.

In the corporate space, Kraft Heinz, Viacom, Uber, Dropbox and News Corp were set to publish their latest quarterly updates throughout the course of the day.