Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a flat opening bell on Thursday as investors look ahead to economic data and earnings.
The S&P 500 futures was down half a point or 0.02% to 2,724.00 as of 6:44 AM ET (10:44 GMT) while Dow futures decreased 14 points or 0.06% to 24,655.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose five points or 0.07% to 6,992.25.
Investors were looking ahead to a flurry of economic data, including the Federal Reserve’s preferred metric for inflation.
The Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation data is released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT) while initial jobless claims are released at the same time.
The Fed uses core PCE as a tool to help determine whether to raise or lower interest rates, with the aim of keeping inflation at a rate of 2% or below.
Political worries in Italy eased on Thursday as Italian parties attempted to form a government. Markets had been on edge over the past few days amid concerns about a wider impact of a political crisis in Europe.
British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) PLC ADR (NYSE:BTI) (LON:BATS) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, rising 1.22% while ING Group NV ADR (NYSE:ING) was up 0.68% and Frontline Ltd (NYSE:FRO) surged 11.09%.
Elsewhere Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) dipped 3.32% while Nokia (HE:NOKIA) Corp ADR (NYSE:NOK) (HE:NOKIA) dipped 2.51%.
In earnings news, Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG), Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) Costco (NASDAQ:COST) and Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) are just some of the firms expected to release their financial results on Thursday.
In Europe stocks were mostly up. Germany’s DAX fell 63 points or 0.49% while in France the CAC 40 increased five points or 0.11% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up four points or 0.06%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained six points or 0.18% while Spain’s IBEX 35 rallied 25 points or 0.27%.
In commodities, gold futures were up 0.25% to $1,304.80 a troy ounce while crude oil futures fell 0.59% to $67.81 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.13% to 93.94.