Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Thursday as investors set aside concerns over the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China and turned their attention to economic data and earnings out later in the session.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 43 points, or 0.16%, by 6:44 AM ET (10:44 GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 3 points, or 0.10%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 10 points, or 0.13%.
Wall Street looked set to take a break on Thursday after ending the prior session on a strong note, with the Dow soaring more than 150 points.
While the theme of the week has been the tariff tit-for-tat between the U.S. and China, the lack of new developments on Thursday, left investors open to refocus their attention.
On the economic front, weekly jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for September will be released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT) to be followed by August existing home sales at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT).
While waiting for the economic data, the dollar edged lower against its major rivals, hovering around the lowest level in around eight weeks, in part as safe-haven demand for the U.S. currency ebbed as investors set aside trade concerns for now.
At 6:46 AM ET (10:46 GMT), the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.31% at 93.83.
Amid a handful of earnings scheduled for Thursday, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) is slated to report fiscal fourth-quarter results after U.S. markets close.
Investors will be closely watching the results for more insight into whether the chip sector is heading for a cyclical downtrend as other companies in the sector have warned that demand in the memory market is waning.
Other companies scheduled to report earnings include Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI), Thor Industries (NYSE:THO), and Steelcase (NYSE:SCS).
In other company news, Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) co-founder Jack Ma stepped away from his promise to create 1 million U.S. jobs, saying it was an impossible feat due to the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Tilray Inc (NASDAQ:TLRY) remained in the spotlight with gains of nearly 8% in pre-market trade on Thursday as cannabis producers became the new market fascination, with many analysts drawing an analogy to the cryptocurrency craze.
Fox (NASDAQ:FOX) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) were also in focus as the UK Takeover Panel said they would enter a three round auction on Saturday to decide who would acquire the British broadcaster Sky (OTC:SKYAY).
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was also on watch as Bloomberg reported that the company was considering opening as many as 3,000 of its new cashierless stores AmazonGo over the next few years.
Elsewhere, in Europe, the region's major bourses were mostly higher, with most of the sectors in positive ground. The pan-European STOXX 600 benchmark was up 0.5% in early afternoon trade, on track for its fifth straight session of gains.
Earlier, Asian markets ended mixed.