Futures point to higher Wall St opening

Index futures pointed to a
higher opening on Wall Street on Thursday, with trading set to calm down after
a hectic few days featuring the fire sale of Bear Stearns, a rate cut and
resilient investment bank results.

Futures for the top three
U.S indexes — the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq
— were up 0.4 to 0.6% at 1120GMT. Thursday is the last session before a three-day Easter
break for U.S.
markets, which reopen on Monday.

Stocks to watch include
athletic footwear and apparel maker Nike, which rose 5% after the bell on
Wednesday on strong quarterly net profit. Its shares were indicated 3.4% higher
in Germany.

The world’s largest cruise
ship operator, Carnival Corp and package delivery company FedEx Corp are due to
report results.

Analysts said the overall
picture remained uncertain amid credit market ructions and a slowing economy.

“We’ll get into the
Easter break today without any great anxieties but factors weighing on the U.S. economy
will remain in place for some time,” said Commerzbank economist Peter
Dixon.

“As concerns over the
financial sector dissipate, worries over earnings will rise on the agenda, and
I see downside for at least three months, maybe longer.”

On a relatively quiet day
for macro data, investors were watching jobless claims data 1230GMT and the
Philadelphia Fed business activity index for March.