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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open Thursday, as the investors await an announcement from the European Central Bank and a smattering of reports on the U.S. labor market.
The ECB is expected to announce details of a new bond-buying program for euro-area governments in a bid to bring the continent's debt crisis under control. The bank's announcement is due at 7:45 a.m. ET, with a news conference following at 8:30.
The bond-buying program is expected to be aimed primarily at Spain and Italy, where bond yields rose to unsustainable levels in July. But borrowing costs for both countries eased in August, following Draghi's pledge to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro currency.
A handful of reports are also due in the U.S. Thursday that will give investors a preview of what the domestic jobs picture looks like ahead of Friday's monthly jobs data.
Investors will be paying especially close attention to the Friday jobs report since it will likely influence the Federal Reserve's decision on whether it will announce more quantitative easing at the conclusion of its next meeting on Sept. 12-13. The government is expected to report Friday that employers added 120,000 jobs in August, according to economists surveyed by CNNMoney.
U.S. stocks ended little changed Wednesday.
World Markets: European stocks higher in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.8%, the DAX in Germany rose 1.4% and France's CAC 40 gained 1.1%.
Second-quarter growth in the euro area decreased by 0.2% compared with the previous quarter, according to second estimates released by Eurostat on Thursday. GDP for the eurozone was 0.5% lower than the same quarter last year.
Asian markets closed higher Thursday. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.7% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.3%, while Japan's Nikkei ended slightly above breakeven.
Related: Chinese make 25% of world's luxury buys
Economy: At 8:15 a.m. ET, payroll processing firm ADP will release a report on August private-sector employment. The report is expected to show a gain of 143,000 private-sector jobs, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.
The ADP report follows data due at 7:30 from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas on planned job cuts in August.
At 8:30 a.m. ET, the Labor Department will release data on initial jobless claims for the week ended September 1, which are expected to total 373,000.
At 10 a.m. ET, the Institute for Supply Management will release the August edition of its service-sector index, which is expected to stand at 52.4, down from 52.6 in the month prior.
Companies: Corporate results are due after the bell Thursday from apparel producer Quiksilver (ZQK) and gun-maker Smith & Wesson (SWHC).
Quiksilver is expected to post quarterly earnings of 5 cents a share on $527 million in revenue, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com. Smith & Wesson is tipped to report earnings of 18 cents a share on $129 million in revenue.
Nokia's (NOK) stock plunged more than 15% Wednesday after the introduction of the company's two new smartphones, which run on the latest Windows 8 operating system, failed to woo investors. Shares rose slightly in premarket trading Thursday.
Related: Nokia stock sinks as new Lumias disappoint
Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) is expected to unveil a new Kindle line Thursday afternoon. Last week the company reported that its Kindle Fire had sold out.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar edged lower against the euro and the British pound but picked up ground versus the Japanese yen.
Oil for October delivery rose 98 cents to $96.34 a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery gained $16.70 to $1,713 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, pushing the yield down to 1.59% from 1.65% late Monday.
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