U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Thursday as crude oil prices fell and investors awaited producer-price inflation data for clues on price pressures and the Federal Reserve's interest rate path.
Brent crude futures fell about 2%, after six straight sessions of gains as investors assessed prospects for weaker global demand this year and higher U.S. crude stocks.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree on a permanent end to the war in the Middle East, according to a senior Iranian source, while traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz remained severely curtailed.
"While oil volatility remains a risk, we do not currently see higher energy prices as a source of sustained underlying inflationary pressure," said analysts at UBS Global Wealth Management in a note.
July producer prices figures are due at 8:30 a.m. ET. This follows benign July consumer inflation data that strengthened expectations that the Fed would hold interest rates steady at its next meeting.
Money market participants saw a 66% chance that the Fed would hold rates steady, up from roughly even odds between a rate hike and a pause on Wednesday, according to CME's Fed Watch tool.
A further easing of core goods and services inflation should lessen pressure on policymakers to raise interest rates soon, they said.
At 07:00 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 114 points, or 0.21%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 14.25 points, or 0.18% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 28.25 points, or 0.09%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq has rebounded after slumping to more than 10% below its all-time highs just two weeks ago, as strong earnings from AI hyperscalers and some technology stocks revived enthusiasm for the AI trade.
The Dow (.DJI) and the S&P 500 (.SPX) were hovering close to their record highs, while the Nasdaq (.IXIC) was around 2% away from its own peak.
Dow component Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) dropped 5.8% despite the networking equipment maker forecasting fiscal 2027 revenue above Wall Street expectations.
Overall, robust earnings in several sectors have proven to be the latest tailwind for U.S. stocks after a rocky start to the second half of 2026.
The earnings calendar is thinning out, with more than 430 S&P 500 companies (.SPX) having already reported for the quarter ended June.
Most megacap and growth stocks were trading higher, with Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) all up between 0.3% and 0.5%.
PC makers Dell Technologies (DELL.N) and HP (HPQ.N) gained 3.6% and 2.6%, respectively, in premarket trading after earnings from China's Lenovo (0992.HK) beat expectations.
Cerebras Systems (CBRS.O) slumped more than 17% after the AI chip designer missed quarterly revenue estimates. Its shares had rallied about 24% in the last four sessions.
Accelerant (ARX.N) soared 44% after private equity firm Thoma Bravo agreed to take the insurance marketplace private in an all-cash deal worth over $4 billion.
Tapestry (TPR.N) shares plunged 8.3% despite the Coach-owner's upbeat annual earnings forecast.
Later in the day, investors will parse a weekly jobless claims report, along with commentary from Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin.
