Investing.com – U.S. futures rose on Thursday, as the NATO summit in Brussels was in focus and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke in favor of the alliance.
The S&P 500 futures rose 15 points or 0.54% to 2,789.00 as of 6:47 AM ET (10:47 GMT) while Dow futures increased 177 points or 0.72% to 24,866.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained 34 points or 0.47% to 7,287.75.
Trump said the U.S. is committed to NATO, as he participates in the last day of the NATO summit in Brussels.
“I believe in NATO,” Trump said at a news conference on Thursday morning.
Investors are watching closely as trade tensions between the U.S. and Europe weigh on the summit. The U.S. President tweeted on Thursday that all NATO nations should meet their 2% commitment goal, and the number should eventually increase to 4%.
Earnings season continues on Thursday, with Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) expected to report its second quarter results before the opening bell.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, rising 1.71%, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was up 0.68% and semiconductor Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) increased 0.52%.
Meanwhile Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell 0.46% while Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:HMNY) slumped 11.30% after it announced a stock public offering.
In economic news, jobless claims and inflation data is scheduled for 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT). Both data sets will give investors clues about the health of the U.S. economy.
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 71 points or 0.57% while in France the CAC 40 increased 34 points or 0.64% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 59 points or 0.78%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 11 points or 0.35% while Spain’s IBEX 35 rallied 10 points or 0.11%.
In commodities, gold futures was flat at $1,244.40 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.80% to $70.94 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.07% to 94.55.