Investing.com – Wall Street futures edged higher Thursday as markets braced for a full day of risk events including former FBI director James Comey’s testimony, the results of general elections in the U.K. and the European Central Bank’s (ECB) decision on monetary policy.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 41 points, or 0.19%, at 6:52AM ET (10:52GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 4 points, or 0.17%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 13 points, or 0.22%.
Comey is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election at 10:00AM ET (1400GMT) Thursday, marking the first time he publicly speaks since being fired from his post last month.
The former FBI director is expected to be asked about conversations in which President Donald Trump is reported to have pressured him to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, whose ties to Russia are under scrutiny.
In written testimony released on Wednesday, Comey quoted Trump as telling him the Russia investigation was a "cloud" impairing his ability to operate as president.
Investors are fearful that the Trump administration may be further damaged by any revelations that could emerge during the testimony, which could dampen already flagging momentum for the White House economic agenda.
Markets are also keeping a close watch on the U.K. Thursday as Britons head to the polls, with voters set to elect 650 members to the Lower House of Parliament from which a government will be formed. Broadcasters’ first exit polls are expected to be released at around 5:00PM ET (21:00GMT) with results rolling in throughout the night and the bulk of results, approximately 600, not expected until 1:00AM ET Friday (5:00GMT Friday).
A final flurry of opinion polls on Wednesday gave Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party a lead between 5 and 12 percentage points over the main opposition Labour Party, suggesting she would increase her majority.
However, British opinion polls have had a relatively poor track record recently, raising expectations that the election outcome could again spring a surprise and adding to concern over the possibility of a hung British Parliament just days before the start of Brexit negotiations on June 19.
Additionally, eyes were on the ECB’s policy announcement due at 7:45AM ET (11:45GMT), followed by President Mario Draghi's news conference 45 minutes after the announcement at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT).
With no policy change expected, market players are focusing on how the central bank may alter its economic assessment and policy guidance.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the ECB is likely to nudge up its forecasts for economic growth in the euro zone but trim its estimates for inflation.
EUR/USD lost around 0.2% at 1.1235 ahead of the announcement and with investors also conscious of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) own decision on monetary policy next week.
Markets placed the odds that the Fed will raise rates on June 14 at 90%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.20% at 96.86 by 6:54AM ET (10:54GMT).
That was ahead of the publication of weekly jobless claims at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT) in an otherwise quiet day for U.S. economic data.
Meanwhile, oil prices bounced back Thursday from one-month lows hit in the prior session when an unexpected surge in U.S. crude inventories and the resurgence of Nigerian production underlined concern over the global supply glut.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.55% to $45.97 by 6:55AM ET (10:55GMT), while Brent oil rose 0.54% to $48.32.
In other equities markets, European stocks were trading mostly higher ahead of the ECB, though London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.09% on jitters ahead of election results.
Earlier, a better-than-expected surge in Chinese exports and imports in May buoyed spirits over the state of the world’s second largest economy leading the Shanghai Composite to close with gains of around 0.3%.
Quite to the contrary, Japanese growth in the first quarter was unexpectedly slashed, leaving the annualized reading at 1.0%, far below the preliminary read of 2.2% and expectations for a better reading of 2.4%. Japan's Nikkei ended Thursday with losses of 0.3%.