Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, as market sentiment recovered somewhat after Wednesday's steep losses driven by persistent concerns over the Sino-U.S. trade spat.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 55 points, or 0.2% by 6:45 AM ET (10:45 GMT), S&P 500 futures rose 9 points, or 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 23 points, or 0.3%.
The gains came after U.S. stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, with the Dow dropping more than 200 points, as worries that a lengthy U.S.-China trade war would crimp global growth pushed investors into the safety of government bonds.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hit as low as 2.210% overnight, their lowest since the middle of September 2017. The U.S. 10-Year yield was last at 2.262%.
Investors remained focused on trade related developments after China’s Vice Foreign Minister said Thursday that provoking trade disputes amounted to “naked economic terrorism.”
It came a day after Chinese newspapers warned that Beijng could use rare earth exports to strike back at the U.S. after President Donald Trump said he was "not yet ready" to make a trade deal.
Investors were turning their attention to the second estimate of U.S. first-quarter growth, due out later in the day, along with the weekly report on jobless claims and pending home sales data for April.
"As the United States isn't likely to fall into a recession anytime soon, there's a likelihood that risk sentiment may improve based on the economy's strength," said Ayako Sera, market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
In earnings news, discount retailers Dollar General (NYSE:DG) and Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) will report ahead of the open.
Uber (NYSE:UBER) will issue its first earnings report as a public company after Thursday’s market close. Share performance has disappointed since the ride-sharing company went public earlier this month, sitting 11.2% below its $45-a-share IPO price.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) will also publish results post-market.
Outside of equities, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, was at 98.045, not far from a two-year high of 98.371 reached a week ago. The index is up more than 2% for the year.
In commodities, gold futures were down $5.45, or 0.4%, at $1,275.55 a troy ounce, while crude oil traded up 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $58.94 a barrel.
--Reuters contributed to this report