Stock index futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street on Thursday, rebounding from falls in the previous session, with futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq up 0.9 to 1.1 percent by 0849 GMT.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday in another late-day roller-coaster ride, dragged lower by BP , which plunged to a 14-year low as the U.S. probe of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico deepened.

Concerns over the costs of the giant oil spill persisted on Thursday, with the oil major slumping 11 percent in early trade in London to multi-year lows before recouping some of the losses as the firm said it had the financial stability to deal with liabilities related to the spill.

Among companies reporting quarterly figures are Del Monte Foods and National Semiconductor

Germany dashed Opel's hopes of receiving state aid on Wednesday, at least initially, and General Motors may now be forced to contribute more than the planned 1.9 billion euros ($2.55 billion) of U.S. taxpayer funding to keep Opel afloat.

Investors will watch the latest weekly initial jobless claims numbers and April international trade data, both due at 1230 GMT, while May's U.S. Federal budget will be released at 1800 GMT.

At 1400 GMT, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on the future of U.S. economic relations with China.

The U.S. Congress put the last pieces in place on Wednesday to begin hammering out a historic financial regulation overhaul, a day after primary elections vindicated get-tough-on-Wall Street politics.

China's exports jumped in May, reassuring investors about the economy's strength but putting pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama to placate critics who say Beijing is keeping the yuan unfairly undervalued.

In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top shares was up 0.6 percent at 1,004.73 points, by 0849 GMT, rebounding from earlier falls. (Reporting by Harpreet Bhal; editing by Simon Jessop)

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