Investing.com – U.S. futures edged forward on Thursday as investors wait to find out if the European Central Bank will taper its asset purchasing program.
The S&P 500 futures increased one and a half points or 0.05% as of 6:47 AM ET (11:47 AM GMT) while Dow futures rose 16 points or 0.07%. Tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures inched forward three points or 0.06%.
The biggest winners in premarket trading included British American Tobacco (LON:BATS), which surged 1.41% and Dynegy Inc (NYSE:DYN), which skyrocketed 9.64% after news energy firm Vista Energy was close to a deal to buy the company.
Meanwhile Barclays (LON:BARC) slipped 6.99% amid investor concern that its investment banking division was not making a profit. Communications firm Nokia (HE:NOKIA) was also down 15.96% after it missed third-quarter earnings expectations while
A flurry of companies are expected to release their earnings releases before the morning bell, including Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), and United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE:UPS), among others.
In economic news, U.S. initial jobless claims will be released at 8:30 AM ET (1:30 PM GMT). Investors will be watching this data closely for signs that the Federal Reserve could increase rates in December.
In other news, the European Central Bank is expected to unwind its quantitative easing program. Investors will focus on ECB President Mario Draghi’s press conference 45 minutes after the policy decision, for details of how or when the central bank will start tapering its asset purchasing program. The bank is expected to trim its monthly purchasing program in January to €40 billion ($47 billion) from the current €60 billion ($70.6 billion).
European stocks were up ahead of the ECB decision. Spain’s IBEX 35 surged 41 points or 0.41% and Germany’s DAX jumped 32 points or 0.25% while in France the CAC 40 was up 18 points or 0.35%. In London, the FTSE 100 rose 26 points or 0.26%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 rallied six points or 0.17%.
In commodities, gold futures inched forward 0.09% to $1,280.11 a troy ounce while crude oil futures jumped 0.17% to $52.27 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, edged up 0.04% to 93.57.