US pre-open: Futures mixed as earnings continue to roll in

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were mixed ahead of the bell on Thursday as Q4 earnings season begins to pick up steam. As of 1240 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.13%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.13% and 0.29% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 703.27 points higher on Wednesday following the release of last month's tamer-than-expected consumer price index and solid Q4 bank earnings.

Thursday's primary focus will be on another batch of quarterly earnings from the nation's largest names in banking, with the likes of Morgan Stanley and Bank of America both set to report earnings before the start of trading.

Trade Nation's David Morrison said: "US stock index futures were mostly firmer this morning, building on yesterday's impressive gains. Stock indices soared higher following the release of some relatively benign CPI numbers which built on the softer PPI readings from the previous day. Traders and investors piled in to increase their exposure to equities, taking advantage of the weakness which has seen the markets struggle since mid-December.

"Inflation expectations suggest that pricing pressures should continue to ease this year. If so, that should dampen a potentially large headwind for equities, particularly if bond yields start to trend down from current levels."

Ahead of the bell, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was more than two basis points at 4.683% after slumping by 14 basis points on Wednesday.

On the macro front, weekly jobless claims numbers, December retail sales data, January's Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey, and last month's import/export price index will all be published at 1330 GMT, while November business inventories and January's NAHB housing market index will follow at 1500 GMT.

Elsewhere in the corporate space, UnitedHealth reported revenues that missed Wall Street expectations in its first set of quarterly results since the fatal shooting of the head of its insurance business last month, while Target shares traded higher on the back of better-than-expected Q4 comparable sales guidance.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com