US futures rises as Street eyes big day of earnings, data

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday as traders eyed a host of big earnings and the release of several pieces of data.

Thursday represents the biggest day of earnings season. Alphabet, Amazon.com (AMZN), LinkedIn (LNKD) and Baidu (BIDU) are among companies set to report after the bell. Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Bristol-Meyers Squibb (BMY), Ford (NYSE:F) and UPS (UPS) all reported before the bell.

Earlier on Thursday Deutsche Bank, the troubled German lender, announced better-than-expected revenue and income for its third quarter on Thursday, helping to alleviate concerns over its litigation issues and its current capital position.

The embattled bank – an important part of the global financial system – announced third-quarter net income of 278 million euros ($303 million), which compares favorably to a 6 billion euro loss for the same period a year ago. The number also beat market expectations, as did revenues, which came in at 7.49 billion euros ($8.17 billion).

On the data front, initial jobless claims fell 3,000 to 258,000, while durable goods for September unexpectedly fell. Pending home sales and housing vacancies are also set to come out at 10 a.m ET.

Back in Europe, the pan-European Stoxx-600 index (^STOXX) was up by around 0.03 percent Thursday. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei (Nihon Keizai Shinbun: .N225) closed 0.32 percent lower. The Shanghai Composite (Shanghai Stock Exchange: .SSEC) in China closed 0.13 percent lower.

In oil markets, Brent crude traded at $50.17 a barrel on Thursday, up 0.42 percent, while U.S. crude held near $49.22 a barrel, up 0.08 percent.

CNBC's Matt Clinch contributed to this story

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