US Stock Futures Flat; Bank of America Earnings In Focus

US stock futures are flat this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings from Bank of America BAC. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 7 points to 13,430.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 0.30 points to 1,465.90. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 4 points to 2,730.25. US stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.17% to 13,511.23, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.02% to 1,472.63 and the Nasdaq 100 index rising 0.22% to 3,117.54. Data on weekly jobless claims and housing starts for December will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing index for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Bank of America is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.02 per share on revenue of $21.03 billion. Amphenol APH is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.90 per share on revenue of $1.11 billion. UnitedHealth Group UNH is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $1.20 per share on revenue of $28.20 billion. BB&T BBT is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.70 per share on revenue of $2.46 billion. American Express Company AXP is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $1.09 per share on revenue of $8.14 billion. Capital One Financial COF is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $1.61 per share on revenue of $5.87 billion. Fastenal Company FAST is estimated to report its Q4 earnings at $0.33 per share on revenue of $759.51 million. BlackRock BLK is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $3.73 per share on revenue of $2.49 billion. Intel INTC is estimated to post its Q4 earnings at $0.45 per share on revenue of $13.53 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp FITB is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.41 per share on revenue of $1.65 billion. eBay EBAY reported a 17% rise in its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings. CLARCOR CLC reported a 2.5% drop in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. European markets were mostly lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.05%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.09%, German DAX 30 Index dropped 0.33% and French CAC 40 Index rose 0.39%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.09%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 1.06% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index rising 0.31%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.07% and India's Sensex surged 0.74%. Crude-oil futures for February delivery gained $0.18 to trade at $94.42 a barrel in electronic trading. Gold futures for delivery in February fell $0.80 to $1,682.40 an ounce in electronic trading. The ICE dollar index (DXY) declined 0.21% to trade at 79.64, from 79.807 in North America late on Wednesday.