Source: Sharecast
As of 1235 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.01%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.12% and 0.20% firmer, respectively.
The Dow closed 231.49 points higher on Wednesday, reclaiming a chunk of losses recorded in the previous session as Donald Trump denied that he was planning to fire Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell.
Rostro's Joshua Mahony said: "Yesterday’s volatility came thanks to yet another stunt out of the Oval office, with the claim that Powell would be sacked providing the President with a helpful guide on exactly which markets would move where should he ultimately follow through on that threat. Warnings from the CEO’s of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs highlight the widespread belief that to do so would provide a particularly bad signal to financial markets.
"Today sees a notable data docket out of the US, with retail sales and the Philly Fed manufacturing survey providing insights over consumers, businesses, and inflation in the face of Trump's tariffs. This week's inflation data failed to provide a smoking gun to show a notable pickup in prices across a raft of metrics. Yes, we have seen some gains for specific goods, but not enough to throw markets off their optimistic trajectory for the time being. The strength of the US economy has been notable of late, with the Fed under little pressure as long as we see strong jobs numbers and a strong consumer."
On the macro front, weekly jobless claims numbers from the Labor Department will be published at 1330 BST, as will last month's import and export price indexes, June retail sales data, and the Philadelphia Fed's July manufacturing survey, while May business inventories figures and the NAHB's July housing market index will follow at 1500 BST.
In the corporate space, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Travelers, GE Aerospace, US Bancorp and Citizens Financial will all report earnings on Thursday.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com