Futures Show Stocks Could Gain On Thursday; Earnings, Jobless Claims, Factory PMI On Watch

U.S. stock futures were upbeat on Thursday following the previous day’s losses when stocks slipped from record highs, and as investors continue to focus on company earnings statements.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.36 percent while futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were up 0.26 percent, and those on the Nasdaq 100 Index were up 0.3 percent.

On an earnings-heavy day, investors are expected to train their eyes on key companies such as Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), 3M Co (NYSE: MMM) and Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: CCE), which are expected to announce earnings before market hours. In the after-market-hours line-up, Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) will be watched closely.

On the economic data front, numbers on international trade in August and jobless claims for the week ended Oct. 19 are both scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The flash purchasing managers' index, or PMI, for the manufacturing sector in October is expected to be released at 8:58 a.m. EDT.

In Europe too, markets climbed back up on Thursday after losing ground in the previous trading session, mainly due to upbeat factory data out of China. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was trading up 0.15 percent while London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.32 percent. Germany's DAX-30 was up 0.47 percent and France's CAC-40 was trading up 0.07 percent.

In Asia, however, markets were mixed, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite were both down 0.71 percent and 0.86 percent respectively, despite China’s flash factory PMI data suggesting that the country's manufacturing sector was on the road to recovery.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index was up 0.42 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the day up 0.31 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index was up 0.54 percent while India’s benchmark BSE Sensex ended the day down 0.2 percent.