By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures edged lower Thursday after the previous session's rout, with the cautious sales outlook from Amazon.com and an expected rise in weekly jobless claims punctuating the brutal economy that companies are navigating. S&P 500 futures edged 2 points lower to 900.80 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 7.25 points to 1,240.70. Dow industrial futures rose 5 points. U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday, with selling accelerating in the final hour, as concerns about recessions around the world sent equities careening lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 514 points, the Nasdaq Composite fell 80 points and the S&P 500 skidded 58 points. The U.S. dollar and Treasury bonds have gained in recent sessions as investors scurry for safety. "The phrase 'flight to quality' is a bit misleading. A more appropriate description would be 'flight to least bad' at the moment," said Jim Reid, a strategist at Deutsche Bank. "With most other asset classes around the world now under varying degrees of stress, U.S. equities are not a great relative value trade even after the recent declines." After data showing Japan's trade surplus slumped 94%, the Nikkei 225 fell 2.5% in Tokyo. The FTSE 100 couldn't hold initial gains and traded 2.2% lower in London. The U.S. economic calendar is on the light side, highlighted by weekly jobless claims. RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, said Thursday that foreclosure filings, including default notices, auction sales notices and bank repossessions, were reported on 265,968 U.S. properties in September, a 12% decline compared to August, but still up 21% from a year earlier. The dollar slipped a bit against rivals on Thursday, with the beleaguered British pound up 0.3% to $1.6264. Oil futures edged up 71 cents to $67.46 a barrel. Copper futures fell another 3%, bringing one-month losses to 43%. Thursday's slate of earnings includes releases from 45 S&P 500 components, including Dow Chemical , Altria , Xerox and after the close, software giant Microsoft. Amazon.com dropped 12% in Frankfurt as the online bookseller forecast weaker current-quarter sales than analysts had anticipated, taking the shine off a third quarter in which its profit jumped 48%. "While we believe the unusually wide guidance range reflects an unusually high level of uncertainty heading into the holiday season, we certainly believe the mid-point is doable whereas both the high end and low end of the guidance range seem remarkably unbelievable," said analysts at Citigroup. Sony also will be in the spotlight after the Japanese consumer electronics giant cut its profit forecast for the fiscal year, citing a stronger yen, weaker electronics sales and hard times in its financial services unit. Amgen rose 4.5% in Frankfurt, however, as the biotech upped its earnings forecast for the year.

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