Investing.com - U.S. stock markets pointed to a slightly higher open on Thursday, after the Bank of England delivered its first rate cut in seven years and announced more measures to stimulate the economy in a bid to ward off recession following Britain's vote in June to leave the European Union.
The blue-chip Dow futures tacked on 24 points, or 0.13%, by 11:08GMT, or 7:08AM ET, the S&P 500 futures rose 3 points, or 0.13%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 2 points, or 0.04%.
The BoE voted unanimously to reduce its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a record-low 0.25%, as widely expected.
The central bank also raised the amount of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves to £435 billion from £375 billion. The Monetary Policy Committee will buy £60 billion of government bonds over six months and as much as £10 billion pounds of corporate bonds in the next 18 months.
Following the news, the pound tumbled 1% against the U.S. dollar, while U.K. and European stocks extended gains.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., weekly jobless claims are due at 12:30GMT, or 8:30AM ET, followed by a report on June factory orders at 14:00GMT, or 10:00AM ET.
Among active pre-market movers, Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) saw shares fall more than 1% after the electric carmaker reported a steeper than expected quarterly loss on Wednesday on higher spending at its vehicle and battery factories, and said adjusted profitability could be within sight if the company meets its delivery goals.
TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) plunged close to 7% after the company's second-quarter earnings miss, as hotel revenue fell.
U.S.-listed shares of Finnish network equipment maker Nokia (NYSE:NOK) slumped almost 8% after posting earnings that broadly missed expectations, prompting the company to up its cost cuts as it cautioned no near-term improvement is likely.
On the upside, mobile payments company Square (NYSE:SQ) soared more than 15% after it reported a 41.5% jump in revenue and diminishing losses after Wednesday's closing bell, as more large merchants make sales using Square's technology.
Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY) surged 7% after the seller of web addresses posted a narrower quarterly loss on a revenue jump.
Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) shares rose nearly 2% after topping analysts' quarterly revenue forecasts and increasing its forward guidance late on Wednesday.
Shares of Jack In The Box Inc (NASDAQ:JACK) spiked nearly 8% following its earnings beat.
One of the last big blasts of second-quarter earnings is expected Thursday. Ahead of the open, Viacom Inc (NASDAQ:VIA), Kellogg Company (NYSE:K), Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM), AMC Networks Inc (NASDAQ:AMCX) and Time Inc (NYSE:TIME) are due to report.
Companies reporting after the close include Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN), LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), Motorola (NYSE:MSI), Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC), El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LOCO), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE:LGF), Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:Z), Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), and Weight Watchers (NYSE:WTW).
Elsewhere, oil prices pushed lower on Thursday after rallying 3% in the prior session as investors remain fixated on a global glut of crude supplies.
U.S. oil was down 32 cents, or 0.76%, to $40.52 a barrel, while Brent lost 50 cents, or 1.16%, to $42.59.