U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open Thursday as investors welcomed better-than-expected private sector jobs data in the hope it signaled positive nonfarm payrolls results on Friday.
Shares closed at multi-year highs Wednesday in the wake of positive economic reports including strong services sector data and the positive ADP report on private sector employment.
"I think Friday's data is going to be good and I think we're getting a sort of avalanche of numbers that are coming out," Guy Monson, managing partner & CIO Sarasin & Partners, told CNBC when discussing the nonfarm payrolls release scheduled for Friday.
More details on the U.S. employment picture will be available at 8:30 am New York time Thursday as initial and continuing jobless claims data will be released. Economists expect initial claims to rise to 405,000 and continuing claims to ease to 4,070,000, according to Briefing.com.
European shares were broadly higher with banking stocks leading the gains. China upped its holdings of euro zone debt, including that of Spain's troubled economy, signaling its support for the region, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said. Asian indexes were mixed at the close, but the Nikkei 225 ended sharply higher.
The price of oil remained around $90 a barrel, while gold edged slightly lower. The dollar made slight gains against the euro, but was flat against the yen.
In other news, Microsoft [MSFT 28.00 -0.0875 (-0.31%) ] said that it would use chip designs from ARM Holdings in the latest version of its Windows operating system. Shares of ARM [ARM-LN 507.50 36.10 (+7.66%)] jumped in London trading.
On the earnings front, Constellation Brands [STZ 21.58 0.11 (+0.51%) ] and Monsanto [MON 69.13 0.06 (+0.09%) ] will be among the companies releasing results before the opening bell.
And in politics, Paul Volcker, who is 83, wants to leave his role as head of a panel of experts advising President Barack Obama on economy issues, according to a Reuters report.
