Stock index futures point to higher open

At 5.24 a.m. ET, futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up between 0.6 and 0.7 percent.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 1.1 percent at 920.64 points, with telecoms operators France Telecom and Telefonica among the gainers after reporting results.

Exxon Mobil , the world's biggest publicly traded company, is expected to report second-quarter earnings of $1.02 a share, down from $2.27, due to lower oil prices.

Goodyear, Kellogg and Motorola are among a host of other companies reporting.

Transatlantic markets operator NYSE Euronext said it planned to cut 290 jobs in Europe and the U.S. as second-quarter earnings before one-off items dropped 34 percent to $132 million.

French drugs group Sanofi-Aventis said on Thursday it was buying a 50 percent stake in animal health venture Merial from U.S. peer Merck for $4 billion to take full control of the business.

Sumitomo Trust and Banking <8403.T> said it will buy Citigroup's Japanese asset manager for 112.4 billion yen ($1.18 billion), as Japan's fifth-largest bank looks for scale amid tough competition in wealth management.

The U.S. Government officially takes a 30 percent equity stake in Citigroup on Thursday, becoming the bank's biggest shareholder in connection with the February bailout.

Jobless numbers, due at 1230 GMT, are expected to have risen to 570,000 from 554,000 the previous week.

The chairman of the two House committees that oversee securities and futures markets will outline legislation for U.S. regulation of over-the-counter derivatives, including mandatory clearing.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as investors worried that China's banks might be ready to hit the brakes on lending to stem market excesses, a move that could curb the global economic recovery, and the Commerce Department said June durable goods orders fell 2.5 percent, the largest drop since January.

The Dow Jones , S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell between 0.3 and 0.5 percent.

After the closing bell Visa reported better than expected quarterly earnings, as the world's largest credit card network cut expenses and credit-strapped consumers used their debit cards more.

(Reporting by Brian Gorman; Editing by Greg Mahlich)