IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks opened little changed on Thursday as investors digested a slew of quarterly results, including a brighter outlook and a forecast-beating profit from 3M Co and disappointing results from McDonald's Corp ahead of key housing market data.

Offshore oil and gas driller Ensco International Inc (ESV.N) on Thursday reported a 32 percent drop in quarterly earnings as more of its rigs were left unused, but it beat Wall Street forecasts and its shares firmed in premarket trading.

Weak prices and sagging demand could see gas supply most of Britain's electricity well into winter, sidelining coal plants and cutting Britain's carbon emissions as a welcome side effect.

Xerox Corp posted lower quarterly results, hurt by a slowdown in office equipment spending, and forecast a third quarter profit that fell shy of Wall Street analysts expectations.

Stocks were set to open slightly higher on Thursday as quarterly results, including a brighter outlook and a forecast-beating profit from 3M Co , gave investors confidence, ahead of key housing market data, that the earnings season will remain strong.

Aid of $10 billion from rich nations would be a good beginning to launch a U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December, the United Nations' top climate official said on Thursday.

Natural Resource Partners LP, which leases coal reserves to miners, may see lower royalties as its clients find it increasingly difficult to obtain permits to mine, its chief operating officer said.

A plan to bring the ballooning U.S. deficit under control passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, requiring Congress to find savings to offset tax cuts or spending increases.

The advisers to the bondholders that provided lender CIT Group Inc with a $3 billion loan facility this week are recommending it be restructured through a bankruptcy following a debt tender in August, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday gave lawmakers proposals to dampen financial firms' appetites for growing to giant size and said it was one step away from giving Congress its full package of reforms.

South Korea's anti-trust agency on Thursday imposed a $208 million fine on Qualcomm Inc and ordered the U.S. wireless chip and technology company to stop discriminating against companies using competitor's products.

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he realized Americans were skeptical about his healthcare overhaul, but that the country's economic recovery depended on implementing the $1 trillion plan.

Hyundai Motor Co is likely to struggle to replicate its record quarterly profit as the benefits from a weaker won and government stimulus fade but the popularity of its small, cheap vehicles will help it gain share in a weak global market.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc posted a higher net profit for the second quarter on Thursday, helped by broad cost cuts.

Ford Motor Co posted a $2.3 billion quarterly net profit, mainly due to debt restructuring, and said it was on track to at least break even in 2011, sending its shares up more than 7 percent.

Ford Motor Co posted a $2.3 billion quarterly net profit, mainly due to debt restructuring actions, with global markets still reeling from a recession that helped to push U.S. rivals General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy.

Sportscar maker Porsche conceded a months-long power struggle to mass-market rival Volkswagen by axing its CEO and said it would raise at least 5 billion euros ($7.1 billion) in equity as the two prepared for a merger.

Porsche's board of directors in an all-night meeting endorsed talks to sell a stake to the Gulf state of Qatar and to boost its finances with a capital hike of at least 5 billion euros.

South Korea's anti-trust agency imposed on Thursday a $208 million fine on Qualcomm Inc and ordered the U.S. wireless chip and technology firm to end discriminatory licensing practices and rebates.

Stock index futures rose on Thursday as quarterly results, including a brighter outlook from 3M Co, gave investors confidence that the earnings season will remain strong ahead of key jobs and housing market data.

Stock index futures rose slightly on Thursday as investors remained positive following an overall strong earnings season and ahead of results from United Parcel Service Inc and McDonald's Corp .

The U.S. consumer will not drive a global economic recovery and the United States is still at risk from high unemployment and souring commercial real estate loans, said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday.

The unemployment claims report compiled weekly will be released this morning at 10 a.m., showing the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time for the week ending July 18.

Swiss drugmaker Roche gave a bullish forecast for the next two years on the back of its $47 billion acquisition of Genentech and said it would expand capacity for H1N1 flu drug Tamiflu.

Toyota Motor Corp will start talks to pull out of a California-based joint venture with General Motors , a Toyota executive said on Thursday.

World stocks rose close to the previous session's nine-month high and oil edged up on Thursday as forecast-beating earnings from major firms raised expectations for a global economic recovery. Swiss bank Credit Suisse's higher-than-expected second-quarter profits and drugmaker Roche's bullish two-year forecast followed solid reports in the United States from Apple and Starbucks on Wednesday.

Roche , the maker of the Tamiflu flu drug, posted a 29 percent drop in first-half net profit and missed forecasts, hit by financing costs related to its $47 billion acquisition of Genentech.

Hyundai Motor Co's quarterly profit jumped by nearly half to a record high thanks to a weaker won boosting offshore sales and government incentives at home, factors which should help it outperform rivals this year.

Asian stocks climbed to a 10-month high on Thursday led by energy shares, though some investors wondered if upward momentum from corporate earnings reports justified increasingly pricey valuations.