U.S. stock futures higher  in pre-market trading for , January 24.The Nasdaq Futures is trading at 6,697.25 up with +0.48% percent or +32.00 point.The Dow Futures is trading at 24,580.50 up with +0.12% percent or +29.50 point.The S&P 500 Futures is trading at 2,642.62  up with +0.17% percent or +4.37 point.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading at 20,574.63 with a loss of -0.093% percent or -19.09 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading at 27,120.98  up with +0.42% percent or +112.78 point. China’s Shanghai Composite is trading at 2,591.69  up with +0.41% percent or +10.69 point. India’s BSE Sensex is trading at 36,058.87   with a loss of -0.14% percent or -49.60 point at 12:15 PM.The FTSE 100 is trading at 6,832.98  with a loss of -0.14% percent or -9.90 point. Germany’s DAX is trading at 11,135.65 up with  +0.58% percent or +64.11point. France’s CAC 40 is trading at 4,880.53 up with +0.83% percent or +40.15 point. The Stoxx Europe 600 is trading at 356.45 up with +0.44% percent or +1.56  point.

Thursday’s Factors and Events

a slew of corporate earnings are expected to have an influence on the market agenda. Some of the major names set to report include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Union Pacific, American Airlines Group, Southwest Air, Intel, Starbucks, Alaska Air, Discover Financial and Western Digital.

Aside from fresh earnings, new economic data is due out too. At 8:30 a.m. ET, jobless claims are scheduled to be released, followed by the U.S. composite purchasing managers’ index figures at 9:45 a.m. ET, and the Kansas City Fed survey at 11 a.m. ET.

Another economic topic set to commence on Thursday is a central bank meeting in Europe. Before the U.S. opening bell, the European Central Bank will host its latest governing council meeting, which will be watched closely after the institution announced last month that it would formally end its multi-trillion bond-buying program at the end of 2018.

Wednesday’s Activity

For the day The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 7,025.77 up with +0.077% percent or +5.41 point.the Dow is trading at 24,575.62 up with +0.70% percent or +171.14 point. The S&P 500 is trading at 2,638.70 up with +0.22% percent or +5.80 point. 

Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,454.26   with a loss of -0.22% percent or -3.20 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 907.18  with a loss of -0.20% percent or -1.78  point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 1,786.64  with a loss of -0.16% percent or -2.78 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,167.81  up with +0.34% percent or +4.00 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 1,555.10  up with +0.16% percent or + 2.42 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 1,459.95  up with +0.19% percent or +2.70 point.