LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open for European shares on Thursday after the Federal Reserve launched a fresh effort to support a struggling U.S. economy, committing to buy $600 billion in government bonds.
At 3:04 a.m. ET, STOXX Europe 50 futures were up 1.1 percent, Germany's DAX futures were up 0.8 percent and France's CAC-40 futures were up 1 percent.
The U.S. central bank said it would buy about $75 billion in longer-term Treasury bonds per month through the end of June 2011 and could adjust purchases depending on the strength of the recovery.
(Reporting by Brian Gorman)