US pre-open: Futures trade higher following Dow's record close

Wall Street futures traded slightly higher ahead of the open on Thursday after the Dow Jones closed at a fresh record high in the previous session.

As of 1225 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.15%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.13% and 0.21% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 97.31 points higher on Wednesday, with more corporate earnings and comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in focus.

In focus ahead of the bell on Thursday, PayPal shares traded firmly higher in pre-market trading after posting a 31% quarterly jump in revenues, leading tech stocks higher in the process, while Etsy slumped after cautioning that sales would likely slow as the Covid-19 pandemic boost begins to fade away.

Anheuser-Busch, Kellogg, Dropbox, Expedia, Roku, Beyond Meat, Shake Shack and Square will all report earnings throughout the course of the day.

On the macro front, Challenger job cuts data for April will be released at 1230 BST, while the Labor Department's all-important jobless claims report for the week ended 1 May will follow at 1330 BST.

Federal Reserve heads John Williams, Raphael Bostic, Loretta Master and Robert Kaplan will all deliver comments throughout the course of the day.