US pre-open: Stocks seen touch higher ahead of more earnings
Stocks on Wall Street looked set to eke out small gains at the open on Thursday as investors looked ahead to more earnings from the likes of American Airlines, while across the pond, a policy announcement from the European Central Bank was in focus.
At 1140 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were up 0.1%. On Wednesday, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit records highs, boosted by strength in the technology sector and a solid earnings release from Morgan Stanley.
Meanwhile, European indices were in the black ahead of a rate announcement by the ECB and ensuing press conference with Mario Draghi.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "Traders are not anticipating any change to the policy but the press conference at 1.30pm might provide clues as to future alterations. The ECB chief, Mario Draghi, has praised the progress of the eurozone but has stopped short of calling for a reduction in the size of the bond buying scheme. Keeping the euro lower is in his interest, so I suspect Mr Draghi will not be overly rosy in his outlook."
On the US corporate front, Bank of New York Mellon was in the spotlight as it released its second-quarter earnings ahead of the opening bell. The bank reported earnings per share of $0.88 and sales of $3.96bn versus estimates of $0.84 and $3.89bn.
Earnings were still due before the open from Travelers, American Airlines and Philip Morris International. After the close, Microsoft, eBay and Visa were slated to report.
Elsewhere, shares in chip maker Qualcomm fell in pre-market trade after its third-quarter earnings came in as expected late on Wednesday but it failed to mention sales related to Apple products.
On the macroeconomic front, initial jobless claims are at 1330 BST, along with the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index.