(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

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Futures up: Dow 0.07%, S&P 500 0.2%, Nasdaq 0.2%

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Datadog ( DDOG ) gains after annual profit, revenue forecast raise

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Qualcomm ( QCOM ) dips after warning of business loss from Samsung

(Updates prices, analyst quote before the bell)

By Twesha Dikshit and Purvi Agarwal

Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were set to

open higher on Thursday, as investors digested a slate of

corporate earnings, while uncertainty around surging valuations

in tech companies and mixed economic data kept gains in check.

Markets took comfort from some broadly positive quarterly

earnings. Datadog ( DDOG ) advanced 21.5% before the bell after

the cloud security firm raised its annual profit and revenue

forecasts.

Moderna ( MRNA ) gained 8.7% after the vaccine maker posted

a smaller-than-expected third-quarter loss.

However, Qualcomm ( QCOM ) dipped 1.1% in premarket trading

after the chip designer warned of a possible loss of business

next year from its key customer, Samsung, but forecast quarterly

sales and profit above market expectations.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq had logged their biggest intraday

drops in close to a month on Tuesday after warnings of a market

pullback from Wall Street executives sparked a sell-off in

AI-linked stocks that have powered equities to record highs this

year.

Some positive earnings reports and better-than-expected

economic data, however, steadied markets on Wednesday.

"I don't think there were any big drivers of the market in

last night's earnings, so that kind of is setting this up for a

muted day," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh

Capital Partners.

At 08:40 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 48 points, or

0.1%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 15.5 points, or 0.23%, and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 59.75 points, or 0.23%

The longest U.S. government shutdown in history has led to

investors and the Federal Reserve flying blind ahead of the next

rate decision and reliant on private sector indicators.

Forrest also said Wall Street could expect some movement on

the shutdown, but things were not going at a speed that could

influence markets.

Global outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas

said on Thursday layoffs announced by U.S. employers surged in

October, marking the highest level for the month in 22 years, in

contrast to Wednesday's strong ADP report.

Traders are now pricing in a 67% chance of a 25-basis-point

rate cut in December, lower than 72% a week earlier, according

to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

With a slew of Federal Reserve officials scheduled to speak

later in the day, traders will closely parse commentary for

hints on the monetary policy path.

EARNINGS CHUG ON

The third-quarter earnings season continued in full steam,

with 83% of the 379 S&P 500 companies that reported through

Wednesday topping analysts' earnings estimates, as per data

compiled by LSEG. Typically, 67% of S&P 500 companies beat

estimates.

DoorDash ( DASH ) slumped 10.6% after the delivery firm

reported third-quarter profit below Wall Street expectations on

rising expenses.

Cosmetics-maker Elf Beauty ( ELF ) forecast annual sales and

profit below expectations, sending its shares down 23%.

Snap rose 19.3% after the social media firm beat

third-quarter revenue estimates and announced a partnership with

Perplexity AI.

In other moves, Marvell Technology ( MRVL ) gained 6.6%

after Bloomberg News reported SoftBank explored a potential

takeover of company.

DraftKings ( DKNG ) added 4.6% after a Bloomberg News report

that Disney ( DIS ) signed the company as ESPN's ( DIS ) new

sports-betting partner.