Wall Street to open slightly higher on big day of earnings, data

Anmar Frangoul
Updated
Wall Street to open slightly higher on big day of earnings, data

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open Thursday morning, ahead of major tech earnings and economic reports.

Alphabet, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) are among companies set to report after the bell.

Durable goods orders rose a less-than-expected 0.7 percent in March. Weekly jobless claims increased more than expected to 257,000. Pending home sales and housing vacancies are due at 10:00 a.m.

Ahead of the open, NBCUniversal parent Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) reported better-than-expected quarterly profit of 53 cents per share and revenue also above forecasts.

Bristol-Myers Squibb posted adjusted quarterly profit of 84 cents a share topped expectations by ten cents, while better-than-expected revenue was helped by strong sales of the firm's drugs for treating cancer and blood thinning.

Ford also reported a beat on the top and bottom line. However, profit fell year-on-year due to higher costs, lower volume and unfavorable exchange rates.

Other companies on the earnings calendar before the bell include AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP), UPS (NYSE: UPS), American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL) and Under Armour (NYSE: UAA).

Traders also kept an eye on Europe, where the European Central Bank kept its benchmark interest rate at zero percent and monetary policy unchanged. ECB President Mario Draghi said in an opening statement that net asset purchases at a new monthly pace of 60 billion euros (nearly $65.6 billion) would "run until the end of December 2017, or beyond, if necessary."

The euro traded in a range, briefly turning higher to trade near $1.093 before falling back below $1.090.

The German 10-year bund yield dropped to trade near 0.34 percent. Treasury yields edged off earlier highs as of 8:52 a.m., ET. The U.S. 10-year yield (U.S.: US10Y) was briefly near 2.32 percent and the 2-year yield (U.S.: US2Y) temporarily around 1.29 percent.

In Europe, the pan European Stoxx 600 Index (STOXX: .STOXX) was around 0.31 percent with the STOXX Europe 600 Bank Stocks index 0.6 percent lower.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite (Shanghai Stock Exchange: .SSEC) in China closed up 0.37 percent and the Nikkei 225 (Nihon Keizai Shinbun: .N225) in Japan dipped 0.19 percent.

Oil traded 2 percent lower on concerns about oversupply. U.S. crude was near $48.63 a barrel, while brent traded near $51.34.

— CNBC's Peter Schacknow contributed to this report.



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