Investing.com - Wall Street futures were steady on Thursday, as markets paused ahead of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy decision due later in the day and in anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week.
The blue-chip Dow futures were up 0.04%, the S&P 500 futures inched 0.03% higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.07%.
Later Thursday, the ECB is likely to announce an extension of its €80 billion a month quantitative easing program, which is on track to end in March 2017, but may also signal that a decision on when it will begin tapering asset purchases will come soon.
Meanwhile, the Fed is almost certainly set to raise interest rates at its policy meeting next week.
The health sector was expected to be in focus after pulling U.S. markets down in early trade on Wednesday, as president-elect Donald Trump was quoted by Time magazine as saying: “I’m going to bring down drug prices.”
Shares in Universal Health Services edged up 0.10% in pre-market trade after plunging over 11% on Wednesday, while pharmaceutical company Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL) climbed 0.58% after tumbling nearly 4% in the previous session.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) Co was also expected to be in the spotlight after Mr. Trump said the U.S. government should cancel a planned order with the aircraft manufacturer.
The energy sector could also be expected to move as oil prices moved back above the $50 a barrel threshold after data on Wednesday showed that U.S. stockpiles declined more than expected last week.
Chevron (NYSE:CVX) shares were up 0.46% pre-market.
Later Thursday, the U.S. was set to publish the weekly report on jobless claims.