By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures on Thursday rose as mergers-and-acquisition activity returned ahead of a fresh wave of earnings releases.
S&P 500 futures rose 2.9 points to 952.30 while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 5.5 points to 1,562.00. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average improved 25 points.
U.S. stocks finished Wednesday mostly lower as Wells Fargo raised concerns about growing customer defaults, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 34 points and the S&P 500 slipping a half point, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 10 points after Apple's well-received profit update.
Economic data includes weekly jobless claims, due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, and existing home sales data for June, tapped for release at 10 a.m.
Economists are expecting claims to rise due to shifts in the timing of seasonal auto layoffs. "Headline claims are always volatile at this time of year," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.
Thursday's earnings wave includes AT&T (T 24.84, +0.27, +1.10%) , 3M (MMM 64.67, +0.47, +0.73%) and Ford Motor Co. (F 6.38, +0.18, +2.90%) , and after the closing bell, Microsoft (MSFT 24.80, -0.03, -0.12%) and American Express (AXP 28.76, -0.62, -2.11%) .
Also reporting results are Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY 20.29, +0.18, +0.90%) and Amazon (AMZN 88.79, -0.22, -0.25%) , both of which announced deals late Wednesday.
Bristol-Myers said it's going to buy Medarex (MEDX 8.40, +0.12, +1.45%) for $2.4 billion, or $16 a share, while Amazon said it's going to buy privately held online footwear firm Zappos.com for $847 million in cash and stock.
EBay (EBAY 19.45, +0.52, +2.75%) rose 4% in Frankfurt after the online auctioneer said current quarter results would top analyst estimates.
"We are making progress. But we know we still have the long way to go as we work to improve trust, value and selection and we will stay focused on this execution path," eBay CEO John Donahoe said on a conference call with investors.
Qualcomm (QCOM 48.45, +0.47, +0.98%) fell 6% after forecasting fiscal fourth quarter revenue to fall between 17% and 23%.
Analysts at Charter Equity Research cut Qualcomm to market underperform from market perform. "While we believe Qualcomm is in an excellent position to take even more market share next year, the inventory snap-back of last quarter combined with declining average selling prices as the recession pushes demand to the low end and the pale of fines, injunctions and write-offs will pressure the stock through much of calendar year 2009," the brokerage wrote.
Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday after a shaky start, adding to a recent string of gains. Hong Kong was the standout, reaching a 10-month high.
In Europe, stocks meandered around the flat line, with the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 up 0.1% in late morning trade. Credit Suisse (CS 46.20, -0.56, -1.20%) reported a stronger-than-forecast profit for the second quarter.
Oil futures edged 20 cents a barrel lower, while the dollar rose 1% to 94.47 yen.
