US pre-open: Futures point to flat open as Trump's impeachment remains in focus

US futures were pointing to a flat open on Thursday as investors seemed somewhat unshaken by news of the President's impeachment.

As of 1230 GMT, Dow futures were up 0.09%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were ahead just 0.02% and 0.01%, respectively.

The Dow closed 27.88 points lower in the previous session as House Democrats voted in favour of Donald Trump being impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

However, while market focus was still largely attuned to political developments in Washington on Thursday, major indices were somewhat steady as most market participants viewed the move as being unlikely to result in his removal from office given the Republican majority in the White House.

Trump became only the third president in US history to be charged with high crimes and misdemeanours.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "While the news cycle is full of last night’s impeachment of President Trump by House Democrats, financial markets have given the news a collective 'meh', and while US markets finished slightly lower, this news isn’t exactly a surprise to those who follow events in Washington DC.

The reality is no-one cares given that its highly improbable that the Senate will ratify proceedings, which means the story will inevitably die a death, and while Democrats will be able to point to a political victory ahead of next year’s Presidential election, it’s unlikely to mean that much unless they can get behind a credible candidate to go up against the President."

On the data front, Philadelphia Fed manufacturing numbers for December and third-quarter current account data will be posted at 1330 GMT.

Existing home sales data for November and leading index figures for November will follow at 1500 GMT.

In corporate news, Nike, Scholastic, Accenture and FactSet will all report earnings throughout the course of the day.