Stocks rise after Coronavirus not declared a global emergency

U.S. equity futures are trading higher after the World Health Organization decided Thursday against declaring the Coronoavirus outbreak a global emergency for now.

The major futures indexes were indicating a gain of 0.3 percent when Wall Street opens for business.

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In Asia, China began a week-long Lunar New Year festival that is being overshadowed by the outbreak of a new virus that has killed 26 people and sickened more than 800.

Japan's Nikkei rose less than 0.1 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.2 percent in a shortened session. Markets were closed in Shanghai and the rest of mainland China.

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As authorities confirmed more cases of the new virus first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, investors continued to monitor developments in the international effort to keep it from spreading further and potentially harming the global economy.

In Europe, London's FTSE added 1.6 percent, Germany's DAX gained 1.4 percent and France's CAC rose 1.2 percent.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	37775.38	+22.07	+0.06%
SP500	S&P 500	5011.12	-11.09	-0.22%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	15601.498878	-81.87	-0.52%

On Thursday, the S&P 500 notched a small gain for the second straight day, climbing 0.1 percent, the Nasdaq rose 0.2 percent to an all-time high and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1 percent lower.

Traders also had their eye on a mixed batch of company earnings reports, including encouraging quarterly results from American Airlines and Citrix Systems, and disappointing report cards from Travelers and Raymond James Financial.

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Excluding the Nasdaq, the major U.S. stock indexes are on track to end the week with a loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.