Wall Street futures pointed moderately higher pre-bell Thursday as traders weighed a generally strong earnings season, but kept wary eyes on oil prices and interest rates.
In the futures, the S&P 500 rose 0.2%, the Nasdaq inclined 0.3%, and the Dow Jones was up 0.8%.
Investors also await the advance estimate for Q1 gross domestic product (GDP) from Washington, slated for an 8:30 am ET release, along with the personal consumption expenditures (PCE)-core inflation report for March.
Qualcomm (QCOM) traded up 11.7% pre-bell after the semiconductor and telecom giant reported fiscal Q2 EPS and revenue late Wednesday that topped expectations, and issued positive guidance regarding China smartphone sales and traction with a hyperscaler customer.
Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) gained 7.1% in pre-market trades after the search-engine colossus reported strong Q1 earnings and sales late Wednesday.
Merck (MRK) traded up 5.5% pre-bell after the drugmaker reported Q1 results above consensus, and boosted guidance early Thursday.
Asian exchanges traded mostly lower overnight, while European bourses tracked moderately higher at midday.
On the economic calendar, in addition to the GDP and PCE-core reports, is the weekly jobless claims bulletin at 8:30 am ET, along with the Q1 Employment Cost Index.
The April Chicago PMI logs at 9:45 am, followed by the February leading indicators report at 10 am.
In pre-market action, Bitcoin traded at $76,073, West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded higher at $107.18, and 10-year US Treasuries offered 4.40%. Spot gold commanded $4,636 an ounce.