(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) U.S. stock futures edged higher on Thursday morning as investors awaited more details on the European Central Bank's bond-buying program when ECB President Mario Draghi speaks this morning after the bank decided to hold interest rates steady at a meeting in Cyprus.
U.S. stocks are coming off two straight sessions of declines from recent all-time highs sending the Dow and the S&P 500 to their lowest levels in two weeks yesterday.
Futures on the three major U.S. market indexes were up around 0.2% premarket.
With Friday's jobs report looming the Labor Department released this morning its look at initial jobless claims which surprisingly climbed to 320000 from 313000 the previous week. Economists were expecting claims to have dropped to 296000 last week.
Meanwhile the government also released revised fourth quarter productivity figures with the reading lowered to an annual 2.2% drop from a fall of 1.8% previously in line with estimates.
At 10:00am ET January factory orders are seen rising 0.4% after a 3.4% drop in December.
European markets were higher today with shares in France leading the region as investors awaited some details of the ECB's 1 trillion euro plus bond buying program. Asian markets mostly closed lower after China lowered its GDP growth forecast to 7% for 2015 the lowest in 11 years compared to last year's target of 7.5%.
In corporate activity () shed more than 7% premarket after reporting fiscal first-quarter profits that were weaker than expected and said it was cutting its profit guidance.
(NASDAQ:COST) reported a quarterly profit 17 cents above estimates but overall revenue was slightly short of expectations. Same store sales however rose a better-than-expected 8% during the quarter. Shares rose 1.4% premarket.
Also in focus () is cutting capital expenditures by about $4.5 billion to $34 billion for 2015 according to CEO Rex Tillerson.
AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) has agreed to buy cancer drug specialist () for $21 billion in cash and stock.
() is reportedly delaying the start of production for a planned larger iPad while the company and HBO are said to be closing in on a deal to include HBO's streaming service on TV.
Etsy the craft and goods website has declared plans to go public on the Nasdaq under the symbol "ETSY" with the company's top line numbers suggesting a valuation well above $1 billion. It had 2014 revenue of $195.6 million and a net loss of $15.2 million.
Crude oil futures were volatile this morning last up 13 cents at $51.63 a barrel in New York while gold for April delivery edged up $1 to $1202 an ounce.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.