07:20 AM EDT, 08/01/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The benchmark US stock measures were pointing higher before Thursday's opening bell, as investors digest Meta Platforms' ( META ) latest financial results and await more earnings from big tech companies later in the day.

Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.4% each in the premarket, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%. Asian exchanges were mixed to lower while European bourses were tracking mostly in the red.

Meta's shares advanced 5.7% pre-bell after the Facebook and Instagram parent delivered better-than-expected second-quarter results. Technology giants Apple ( AAPL ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) are set to release their quarterly statements after the markets close.

ConocoPhillips ( COP ) , Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ( REGN ) , Anheuser-Busch Inbev ( BUD ) , Cigna ( CI ) , Southern Co. ( SO ) , Air Products and Chemicals ( APD ) , Moderna ( MRNA ) , Hershey (HSY), Roblox ( RBLX ) and Kellanova ( K ) report earnings early Thursday, among others. Chipmaker Intel (INTC) posts its results after market close.

Traders also assessed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments that monetary policy easing "could be on the table" in September. The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 5.25% to 5.50%, saying inflation remains "somewhat elevated" despite having eased over the last year.

On Thursday's economic calendar, the Challenger Job Cut Report for July is out at 7:30 am ET, followed by the weekly jobless claims bulletin and the preliminary second-quarter productivity and costs report at 8:30 am. The July purchasing managers' index for manufacturing from S&P Global posts at 9:45 am, while the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for the same month is out at 10 am.

The construction spending report for June is also scheduled for a 10 am release, followed by the weekly EIA domestic natural-gas supplies report at 10:30 am.

Before the open, bitcoin declined 1.7% to $64,492, West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 0.7% to $78.44 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries dropped 5.5 basis points to 4.05% and gold moved up 0.3% to $2,479 an ounce.