MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Set To Tip Higher With Earnings Deluge In Focus

American Airlines shares drop after carrier increases wages

Wall Street stocks were set to edge higher at the open Thursday, as investors digested a wave of mostly upbeat corporate results, following the revelation of the broad strokes of President Donald Trump's eagerly awaited tax plan.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 27 points, or 0.1%, to 20,932, while those for the S&P 500 index added 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,385. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index climbed 11 points, or 0.2%, to 5,547.

The gains come after a choppy session on Wednesday, when markets closed marginally lower as traders weighed the tax proposal (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-rally-poised-to-stall-as-investors-wait-for-trumps-big-tax-plan-2017-04-26) from Trump's administration. The Dow slipped 0.1%, while the S&P 500 index ended less than 0.1% lower after briefly trading above its previous closing high earlier in the session.

The Nasdaq Composite Index finished 0.27 points lower, but stayed above the 6,000 level it breached on Tuesday.

Analysts said the Trump administration's tax proposal was light on detail and failed to address the question of how its tax cuts would be funded. One key proposal is to lower the corporate tax rate to 15% from 35%, with the aim of making U.S. companies more competitive internationally.

Read:Markets got what was broadly expected from tax plan: a starting point (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/markets-got-what-was-broadly-expected-from-tax-plan-a-starting-point-2017-04-26)

Opinion:Trump's tax plan sets the stage for Dow 30,000 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-tax-plan-sets-the-stage-for-dow-30000-2017-04-26)

"Nice ideas, but far from a done deal, merely adding to investor frustration about the lack of progress on all those election pledges that helped fuel risk appetite and markets to recent highs," analysts at Accendo Markets said in a note on Thursday morning.

Earnings deluge: In Thursday's trade, investors were back to focusing on corporate earnings with a long list of companies reporting.

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co.(LUV) slid 4.5% premarket after the carrier reported earnings below expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/southwest-airlines-stock-falls-after-earnings-miss-expectations-2017-04-27).

Ford Motor Co.(F), on the other hand, rose 1.6% after the car giant's earnings and revenue topped Wall Street forecasts.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.(BMY) also beat forecasts, sending the shares 2.9% higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bristol-myers-squibb-stock-surges-3-after-first-quarter-profit-revenue-beats-2017-04-27).

Dow Chemical Co.(DOW) shares climbed 1.4% after earnings came in ahead of expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-chemical-shares-rise-14-premarket-as-company-beats-profit-and-revenue-estimates-2017-04-27).

Shares of Under Armour Inc.(UAA) soared 6% ahead of the bell. The athletic apparel reported a loss for the first quarter, but it was smaller than expected (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/under-armour-shares-soar-after-earnings-beat-2017-04-27).

American Airlines Group Inc.(AAL) shares slumped 4.3% in premarket trade, after the air carrier reported first-quarter results, and announced a pay increase for crewmembers.

Domino's Pizza Inc.(DPZ) shares rose 1% after the pizza maker beat estimates.

After the market closes, earnings from Google parent Alphabet Inc.(GOOGL) (GOOGL), Microsoft Corp.(MSFT), Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN) and Starbucks Corp.(SBUX) are on tap.

Read:The $2 trillion earnings day: Google, Amazon and Microsoft top frenzy of reports (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-2-trillion-earnings-day-google-amazon-and-microsoft-top-frenzy-of-reports-2017-04-26)

Stock movers: Shares of PayPal Holdings Inc.(PYPL) rallied 5.6% before the bell after the online-payments company late Wednesday beat earnings expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/paypal-earnings-beat-stock-buyback-send-stock-to-record-levels-2017-04-26) and announced a $5 billion stock-repurchase plan.

U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche Bank AG(DBK.XE) dropped 2.5% in premarket trade after the German lender's revenue came in flat for the first quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/deutsche-bank-wins-back-clients-but-profit-lags-2017-04-27).

H&R Block Inc.(HRB) and Intuit Inc.(INTU) extended gains, after rallying in the extended session Wednesday after earnings reports. Both stocks had closed lower at the end of regular trading over worries that they would be hurt by President Donald Trump's simplified tax-code proposal.

Read:H&R Block, Intuit reassure investors after Trump's tax announcement (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hr-block-intuit-reassure-investors-after-trumps-tax-announcement-2017-04-26)

Economic docket: An update on weekly jobless claims is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, along with readings on goods trade and durable goods orders for March. Reports on pending home sales for March and the rental vacancy rate for the first quarter are expected at 10 a.m. Eastern.

No Federal Reserve officials are lined up to speak.

Central banks in focus: Earlier Thursday, the Bank of Japan as expected left its ultra-accommodative monetary policy unchanged (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-japan-leaves-rates-unchanged-says-inflation-is-lagging-2017-04-26) and offered a more upbeat tone on the country's economy.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank kept its monetary policy unchanged (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ecb-leaves-rates-unchanged-reiterates-asset-purchase-plans-2017-04-27) and re-emphasized that it could increase the size or lengthen the duration of its EUR60 billion-euros-a-month asset-purchase program if inflation looks set to fall back below its target of near but just below 2%.

Check out:ECB live blog: Mario Draghi sees diminished downside risks (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2017/04/27/ecb-live-blog-mario-draghi-expected-to-avoid-taper-talk/)

Read:French election relief lays ground for ECB tapering--but not yet (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/french-election-relief-could-pave-way-for-ecb-tapering-but-not-yet-2017-04-25)

In Sweden, the Riksbank extended its bond-buying program by six months (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/swedens-riksbank-extends-bond-buys-to-end-of-2017-2017-04-27), sending the dollar to 8.8032 kronor, from as low as 8.7499 earlier in the day.

Other markets: The Mexican peso and Canadian dollar advanced against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, after the Trump administration backed away from threats to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-backs-off-threats-promises-us-will-stay-in-nafta-2017-04-26).

Stocks in Asia ended mixed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-pull-back-ahead-of-boj-rate-announcement-2017-04-26) as investors digested Trump's tax plan. European stocks held onto modest losses (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-snap-winning-streak-with-ebc-on-deck-2017-04-27) after the ECB announcement. Oil prices dropped, with crude oil moving further below the $50 mark.

Gold was marginally higher, while the ICE Dollar Index edged 0.1% lower to 98.902. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond was unchanged at 2.31%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2017 08:55 ET (12:55 GMT)