Futures edge higher
U.S. stock futures were higher ahead of the opening bell on Thursday as Wall Street looked to rebound from the heavy losses notched in the previous session.
As of 5:40 a.m. ET, futures for the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average were 165 points, or 0.62% higher to 26,574. Those tied to the S&P 500 rose 25.62 points, or 0.79% to 3,289.12 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were up 128.37 points, or 1.15% to 11,261.12.
Stock markets around the world have endured bouts as an alarming surge in new coronavirus cases spooked investors and threatened economic recovery. Failed attempts to agree on a coronavirus stimulus package has also weighed on markets.
On Wednesday, the Dow plunged 943 points, or 3.4%, to settle at 26,519.95, the S&P 500 skidded more than 119 points, or 3.5%, to end at 3,271.03, while the Nasdaq 100 shed 426 points, or 3.7%, to end at 11,004.87.
Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet earnings on tap
Traders will also be keeping an eye on four big tech companies that are slated to report their September-quarter earnings after the closing bell.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Google-owner Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) are mostly expected to post encouraging earnings results.
Analysts expect Apple to report earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue of $64.16 billion. Amazon is expected come out with earnings of $7.41 per share on revenue of $92.7 billion.
Analysts project Facebook will report earnings of $1.89 per share and revenue of $19.73 billion. Alphabet is seen reporting earnings of $11.09 per share on revenue of $42.73 billion.
Other notable earnings to watch today include Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Kellogg (NYSE: K), and Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC).
Weekly jobless claims & GDP data eyed
On the data front, the U.S. Labor Department will publish its weekly report on jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Consensus forecast call for 774,000 new claims for the week ended Oct. 24, down from 787,000 in the previous week. Continuing claims are expected to come in at 7.7 million, down from 8.37 million claims the week before.
At the same time, the government will issue U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the July-September period. Economists expect an annualized rise of 32%, which would be the fastest on record.
