U.S. futures higher amid U.S. budget optimism; Dow Jones up 0.54%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday, as hopes that the U.S. will manage to avoid a fiscal crisis boosted market sentiment, while investors eyed the release of U.S. jobs data later in the day.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.54% rise, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.61% gain, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.67% increase.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, on Wednesday voiced optimism that Republicans could broker a deal with the White House to avert a fiscal crisis, while President Barack Obama said he hoped to reach an agreement with Congress before Christmas.

Investors fear the planned tax increases and spending cuts, due to start on January 1 and totalling about USD600 billion, could push the world's biggest economy into recession and weigh on the global economic outlook.

Pharmaceuticals were expected to be active, after an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday voted that an experimental Johnson & Johnson drug for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis appears to be safe and effective, but highlighted potential heart and liver-safety issues.

Shares in Johnson & Johnson rose 0.45% in pre-market trade.

The tech sector was also likely to be in focus, as Google climbed 0.81% pre-market after Oracle Investment Research raised the operator of the world’s most popular search engine to buy from hold.

Infoblox surged 10.18% in early trading after the network and data-services provider said it expects fiscal-year adjusted earnings per share of 17 cents to 21 cents, compared with its previous forecast for 4 cents to 7 cents.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin and the Defense Department were said to be nearing an agreement on a long-delayed contract for a fifth batch of F-35 fighter jets, according to a Reuters report.

Elsewhere, in company news ATM maker NCR Corp said it would buy Israeli software company Retalix for USD650 million in a bid to expand its footprint in the retail sector.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were sharply higher. The EURO STOXX 50 jumped 0.99%, France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.93%, Germany's DAX advanced 0.70%, while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.83%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.99%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rallied 0.99%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release preliminary data on third quarter growth as well as the weekly government report on jobless claims.