U.S. Stock Index Futures Point Higher

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones futures and Nasdaq 100 futures rising 1.5 to 1.8 percent at 5:05 a.m. EDT.

European policymakers struck a deal to ease the euro zone debt crisis, which will see private bondholders of Greek debt accept a 50 percent loss on their investment and the region's rescue fund be leveraged to 1 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion).

Investors will eye third-quarter U.S. GDP at 8:30 a.m. EDT, with a Reuters survey forecasting a 2.5 percent annual pace of growth, compared with a 1.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter.

Other macroeconomic news investors will watch include U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims and the Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index for September both at 8:30 a.m. EDT, while September U.S. pending home sales is at 10 a.m. EDT.

Earnings will be a focus, with results from firms including Exxon Mobil , Dow Chemical , Colgate Palmolive , Hershey , Avon and Procter & Gamble .

In corporate news, Research in Motion has been sued by consumers in the United States and Canada for the service outage that hit BlackBerry devices across the world earlier this month.

A government watchdog agency said the U.S. Treasury department after making great efforts to help Wall Street banks free themselves from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) should do more to help small banks exit TARP.

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that American International Group plans to sell about half its stake in AIA Group Ltd <1299.HK>, the Asian life insurer it took public last year.

European shares jumped to a 12-week high on Thursday after euro zone leaders struck a deal to ease the region's debt crisis, led by banking shares.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> was up 2.4 percent at 1,007.59 points at 0905 GMT (5:05 a.m. EDT).

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after plans emerged from the EU summit, with the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> up 1.4 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rising 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gaining 0.5 percent.

(Reporting by Joanne Frearson; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)