U.S. stock index futures took a pause Thursday as investors evaluated a wave of corporate earnings, while a seeming lull in the escalation of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs gave markets some reprieve.
Industrial and aerospace giant Honeywell said it will split into three independently listed companies. However, shares fell 3.7% after the company forecast downbeat sales and profit for 2025.
Drugmaker Eli Lilly rose 1.5% after it forecast annual profit largely above estimates, while Coach-parent Tapestry added 7.7% after raising its annual sales forecast.
Amazon.com, which is set to report after markets close, is under pressure to deliver on lofty cloud computing expectations.
At 07:00 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 3 points, or 0.01%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 1.25 points, or 0.02%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 41.75 points, or 0.19%.
Most megacap and growth stocks edged up, with Nvidia adding about 0.7% in premarket trading.
Markets witnessed a dismal start to the week when Trump announced sweeping trade tariffs over the weekend, but suspended the levies on goods from Mexico and Canada on Monday for a month.
Although many uncertainties remain under Trump's new administration, Wall Street was relieved that things were not worse, particularly with regard to counter-tariffs against the United States from Beijing.
"Markets may have breathed a temporary sigh of relief as US tariffs against Canada and Mexico are put on hold for now, and China's initial retaliatory response is considered restrained," Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, said in a note.
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said overnight that he was content to keep interest rates steady until policymakers had a better sense of the net effects of the Trump administration's policies on tariffs, immigration, deregulation and taxes.
Traders do not expect the Fed to make a move on interest rates in its next meeting in March, but a cut is widely anticipated in June, according to the CME's FedWatch.
Analysts have broadly estimated that Trump's tariff plans could spur domestic inflation and likely slow the Fed's rate cuts.
A weekly jobless claims report is due before markets open, leading up to the all-important January nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
All three major indexes closed higher in a choppy session on Wednesday, bringing the S&P 500 about 1% away from its all-time high.
Among early movers, U.S.-listed shares of Arm Holdings dropped 3.8% after the chip-tech provider topped current-quarter expectations, but said it would no longer meet the top end of its previous full-year forecast.
Qualcomm fell 4.2% after the chip designer's executives said its lucrative patent-licensing business would not see sales growth this year, following the expiration of an agreement with Huawei Technologies.
Ford Motor lost 6.4% after the automaker forecast up to $5.5 billion in losses in its electric-vehicle and software operations this year.
Skyworks Solutions plunged 29.9% after the Apple supplier forecast declines in revenue in its mobile segment and projected current-quarter profits below estimates.