US pre-open: Stocks seen touch higher as investors await jobs data

US stocks looked set for a slightly firmer open on Thursday as investors looked to some key jobs and manufacturing data.

At 1130 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were flat, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were up 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: "Ahead of tomorrow’s jobs report, the ADP release will be the most closely watched, despite its tendency to not provide an accurate indication of the official NFP release. A number in line with expectations would suggest tomorrow’s number will be good enough to convince the Federal Reserve that a hike at the meeting in two weeks’ time is still a good decision.

"Given the data we’ve seen since the start of the year though, a bad report tomorrow may worry some officials and it will be interesting to see what that does to market expectations, with a hike currently 91% priced in, according to the CME Group FedWatch Tool."

The ADP employment report is at 1315 BST, while Markit's manufacturing purchasing managers' index is at 1445 BST and the ISM manufacturing PMI is at 1500 BST.

Oil prices were steady ahead of the Energy Information Administration's crude oil stocks data at 1600 BST. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.1% to $48.39 a barrel and Brent crude was flat at $50.74.

In corporate news, Palo Alto shares surged in pre-market trade as the computer security company reported better-than-expected quarterly results late on Wednesday.

Box Inc also looked set to rack up healthy gains at the open after the cloud content management company's first-quarter earnings late on Wednesday impressed investors.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise was on the back foot in early trade after it reported a quarterly loss on Wednesday, while chemicals marker PPG Industries could be in focus after it withdrew its offer for Dutch Dulux maker AkzoNobel.

Elsewhere, Charter Communications could be active following reports it has rejected a $100m buyout offer from Verizon Communications.

Dollar General and Express Inc were among the companies slated to report earnings before the bell.