Stock futures dipped in early morning trading Thursday but were off their lows as strong earnings from Walmart helped boost sentiment.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials faded 89 points, or 0.3%, to 34,754.
Futures for the S&P 500 faltered 19.25 points, or 0.4%, to 4,450.75
Futures for the NASDAQ slid 84.5 points, or 0.6%, to 14,515.50.
A slew of companies reported quarterly results after the bell Wednesday. DoorDash surged more than 26% in pre-market trading after reporting a loss while saying revenue rose and issuing upbeat guidance. Cisco rose 3.5% after also topping estimates and raising guidance, and Applied Materials added 2%.
In early earnings action, Walmart topped expectations and reaffirmed guidance, sending shares up 1.7% in premarket trading and helping to stem losses for futures. Investors also are awaiting quarterly reports from Airbus, Autonation and Nestle.
Weekly jobless claims numbers will also be released Thursday morning. Initial filings for unemployment benefits are expected to total 218,000, according to a Dow Jones estimate.
That would be a slight decline from the week before. The market also will get a look at housing starts and building permits as well as the Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.8%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 0.3%
Oil prices dropped 57 cents to $93.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $19.90 to $1,891.40 U.S. an ounce.