U.S. stock index futures traded slightly higher on Thursday after the release of better-than-expected earnings from tech giant Microsoft.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials took on 46 points, or 0.2%, early Thursday to 26,848
Futures for the S&P 500 moved ahead 5.75 points, or 0.2%, at 3,011.50
NASDAQ Composite futures vaulted 46.25 points, or 0.6%, to 7,947.75
Microsoft – nicknamed "Mr. Softee" -- reported earnings per share of $1.38 on revenue of $33.06 billion for the previous quarter. Analysts expected a profit of $1.25 per share on revenue of $32.23 billion.
Microsoft's strong quarterly performance was driven in part by Azure, its cloud business, which saw revenues grow by 59% on a year-over-year basis.
Tesla shares spiked more than 18% after the electric car maker posted a surprise quarterly profit. The company also told investors its new Shanghai factor is “ready for production.”
Comcast, Dow Inc. and PayPal also traded higher on earnings that beat analyst expectations. Twitter, however, plunged about 20% after posting disappointing earnings.
More than 31% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly earnings thus far, with nearly 80% of them posting results that beat analyst estimates.
Amazon, Intel and Visa are among the companies scheduled to report after the bell as investors slog through the busiest day of the earnings season.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index gained 0.6%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index progressed 0.9%,
Oil prices docked 10 cents to $55.87 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $1.70 to $1,494.00 U.S. an ounce.