U.S. stock futures edged lower on Thursday on concern a recent rally will run out of steam as firms including J.P. Morgan Chase and Nokia release results.
S&P 500 futures slipped 2.9 points to 845.60 and Nasdaq 100 futures eased 1.5 points to 1,315.50. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 29 points.
A late-hour run pushed U.S. stocks higher on Wednesday, with the Fed's Beige Book confirming other surveys showing the economy contracting at a less rapid pace.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 109 points, the S&P 500 added 10 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite managed just a 1 point rise after Intel's cautious second-quarter outlook.
The recent rally still has its share of doubters.
"This is a bear market bull run and it's about to end in my opinion," said Steen Jakobsen, chief investment officer at Capinordic, a Scandinavian finance group. "We are very close to the top -- 850, 860, 875 in the S&P -- and unfortunately I think we are setting ourselves up to be disappointed in the second half of this year."
NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer told the Financial Times in an interview that the stock mark rally in March was deceptive because it was driven by short-term traders.
"I think we're waiting for another rally, in my opinion, in around June and July," Niederauer said in the interview, adding that a summer rally would be a six to nine-month leading indicator of an economic recovery.
Meanwhile, China on Thursday said its economy expanded at a 6.1% clip in the first quarter, which was slower than the 6.8% expansion in the fourth quarter.
In the euro zone, consumer prices grew at a record low of 0.6% in March while industrial production in February tumbled
U.S. data due for release includes weekly jobless claims, March housing starts and the Philly Fed index for April.
Thursday sees a number of earnings releases, including from J.P. Morgan Chase , Nokia , Southwest Airlines , and after the close, Google .
EBay was back in the spotlight as the online auctioneer said it would pay up to $1.2 billion, or $24 a share, for Korea's Gmarket . Yahoo ) has agreed to sell its 10% Gmarket stake to eBay.
Overseas stock markets saw muted performances. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 0.1% and South Korea's Kospi Composite was 0.3% higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.6%, unable to hold on to its small gains.
In Europe, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 rose 0.7% and the FTSE 100 added 1% in London.
Oil futures rose 56 cents to $49.81 a barrel and gold futures were down slightly over $1 an ounce.
The dollar dropped against the Japanese yen but rose on the euro. Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds edged up 2 basis points to 2.79%.
