Stock Futures Zigzag as Traders Parse Earnings Deluge

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U.S. stock-index futures bounced in a tight range on Thursday as traders reviewed a flood of earnings from high-profile companies.

Today's Markets

As of 7:55 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 9 points, or 0.06%, to 16322, S&P 500 futures rose 0.25 point, or 0.01%, to 1853 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 7 points, or 0.21%, to 3509.

Earnings season is kicking into high gear, meaning corporate news has stolen the Street's attention.

IBM (NYSE:IBM), one of the world's biggest technology companies, saw its quarterly revenues take a worse-than-expected slump to a five-year low. Shares of Big Blue fell more than 4%, and are expected to weight on the Dow. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), the biggest U.S. investment bank, revealed a big beat on the top and bottom lines.

Search giant Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) weighed in with a quarterly miss, sending its shares slumping more than 2%.

Looking elsewhere in the finance sector, credit card behemoth American Express (NYSE:AXP) revealed better-than-expected profits, but disappointing revenues. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), the No. 2 U.S. investment bank, meanwhile, unveiled a solid quarterly beat.

General Electric (NYSE:GE), the diversified conglomerate, posted mixed results, while chemicals maker DuPont (NYSE:DD) logged a big miss on the top line coupled with a match on the bottom line. Health insurance giant UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) notched slightly stronger-than-expected profits on rising membership.

On the economic front, a report due at 8:30 a.m. ET is forecast to show weekly jobless claims having jumped to 315,000 thousand from 300,000 the week prior. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's purchasing-managers index is expected to show the factory sector in the mid-Atlantic region picked up slightly in April from March.

Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil futures fell 2 cents, or 0.02%, to $103.75 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline dipped 0.22% to $3.033 a gallon. Gold rose 50 cents, or 0.04%, to $1,304 a troy ounce.