Also yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke concluded his congressional testimony on the U.S. economic outlook without indicating when there might be a fresh round of quantitative easing.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) offered a disappointing second-quarter report this morning. Also scheduled to report are Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV).
Data on weekly jobless claims, June durable-goods orders and June pending home sales are due out this morning.
Markets in Europe are higher today. U.K. stocks reached a two-week high on better-than-expect earnings from U.S. and European companies.
The FTSE 100 and CAC 40 were both up less than 1%, while the DAX was up about 1.2% to 6.770.
The German parliament is expected to approve the European Union’s bank aid package for Spain.
Spain saw demand weaken as it auctioned debt Thursday. The yield on the country’s 10-year government bond inched closer to 7%.
Asia stocks rose sharply Thursday as technology firms got a boost from U.S. corporate results. Shares of Chinese banks and insurance companies were strong performers as well.
The Nikkei 225 added 0.8%, while the Hang Seng was up 1.6% to 19,559.