US pre-open: Stocks seen a little higher as investors eye earnings season
US futures pointed to a slightly higher start on Wall Street on Thursday following a negative close in the previous session as investors digested the latest news out of China and looked ahead to the start of earnings season.
At 1225 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were all 0.2% firmer.
Earlier, China's foreign exchange regulator dismissed a press report suggesting the country might be looking to slow down or halt purchases of US Treasuries as "fake news".
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that China was looking to scale back US bond purchases, but a spokesperson for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in a statement published on its Chinese website that the "news may quote the wrong source of information, or it may be fakes news".
David Morrison, senior market strategist at GKFX, said: "Global indices lurched lower on Wednesday morning following a story that China was preparing to slow or even halt its purchases of US Treasuries. However, the sell-off provided nothing more than another dip-buying opportunity for investors and it wasn’t long before US indices made back most of earlier losses.
"This proved to be a sensible move after Chinese authorities dismissed the report that they would hold back from buying US debt. Now investors are looking forward to the fourth-quarter earnings season as it kicks off this week."
Earnings are due on Friday from JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock and Wells Fargo.
In corporate news, Boston Scientific was in the black in pre-market trade after the company received FDA approval for a spinal cord simulator system that offer non-opioid treatment, while Delta Airlines flew higher after its fourth-quarter profit and sales exceeded analysts' expectations.
Elsewhere, DST Systems rallied after the company agreed to be bought by SS&C Technologies in a deal valued at $5.4bn.
On the data front, the producer price index and initial jobless claims are at 1330 GMT.