Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Thursday a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and signaled that borrowing costs are likely to remain on hold through 2020.
Futures on the Dow and the S&P 500 edged higher by 6:55 AM ET (10:55 GMT), while Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 0.1%.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that while the economic outlook for the U.S. was favorable, a significant, persistent rise in inflation would be needed to hike rates.
Investors remained cautious ahead of Sunday's deadline for the next round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports to take effect.
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet with top White House trade advisors later Thursday to discuss the planned 15% tariffs on some $160 billion in Chinese goods, according to various reports.
A decision to move ahead with the tariffs could roil financial markets and scuttle U.S.-China talks to end the 17-month-long trade war between the world's two largest economies.
Investors were also looking ahead to data on initial jobless claims and producer price inflation figures for November, both set to be released at 08:30 AM ET.
Costco (NASDAQ:COST), Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) are scheduled to publish their latest quarterly earnings reports after the market close.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, was little nursing losses near Wednesday’s four-month lows at 97.13 while the yield on the 10-year Treasury was trading at 1.79%.
In commodities, gold futures were at $1,479.65 a troy ounce, while crude oil traded up 27 cents at $59.04 a barrel.
--Reuters contributed to this report