Stock futures up after Spain auction, bank earnings
Stock index futures rose on Thursday after Spain sold all of its debt at an auction and ahead of a raft of corporate earnings and economic data.
Spain, the latest trouble spot in the euro zone debt crisis, sold 2.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion) of bonds, but yields rose as Madrid struggled to tame its deficit.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares advanced 0.5 percent.
Bank of America Corp
Morgan Stanley
DuPont and Co's
According to Thomson Reuters data, 35 companies in the S&P 500 are due to report Thursday. Notables include Microsoft Corp
Of the 56 S&P 500 companies reporting through Wednesday morning, 79 percent beat estimates.
S&P 500 futures rose 6.5 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures gained 66 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 19.5 points.
On the economic front, clues on the health of the U.S. labor market could come with the release of weekly initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT). Economists forecast a total of 370,000 new filings, compared with 380,000 in the prior week.
Due at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) are the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's April business activity index, the Conference Board's leading economic indicators for March and existing home sales for March from the National Association of Realtors.
Biotechnology company Human Genome Sciences Inc
Asian shares traded in tight ranges before the Spanish bond auction amid renewed concerns over the euro zone's debt crisis.
(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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