Pre-market trading has a distinctly technology focus with investors mulling updates from social media giant Facebook and chip-maker Qualcomm.
Spread betting quotes suggest that the Dow Jones industrial average will recoup all but 10 of yesterday's 50 point fall at the start of trading.
The S&P 500 was seen rising to 2,107, clawing back five of the eight points given up yesterday.
Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) quarterly financial results statement met another significant yard-stick as the social network passed the one billion mark for daily active users (DAU).
Tallying DAUs at 1.01bn in the month of September it represents a 17% increase year-on-year, and perhaps telling of the trend towards smart phones and tablets the figure for mobile DAU’s amounted to 894mln.
The shares were up 3.3% at US$107.40 in screen-based trading ahead of the bell.
Investors were less keen on Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), which was 6.4% lower at US$56.40 after a weak outlook statement released last night that completely overshadowed better-than-expected third quarter numbers.
Away from the technology sector, Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM) is set to have a chunk taken out of its share price after last night's update revealed like-for-like sales were down 0.2% from a year earlier in the quarter ended 27 September.
Earnings of US$1.48 per share on revenue of US$15.39bn for the full year missed estimates of earnings of US$1.67 per share on US$15.42bn in revenue.
Across the pond, Anglo-Swedish drugs behemoth AstraZeneca (LON:AZN, NYSE:AZN) was trading some 3.4% higher after it upped profit guidance for the full year and said revenues, previously expected to be a bit lower than last year, would actually be more or less the same.
US companies reporting today: AES; Apache; Celgene; CenterPoint Energy; Consolidated Edison; Duke Energy; Endo International; EOG Resources; Hudson City Bancorp; Kraft Heinz; Mohawk Industries; Molson Coors Brewing; News; NVIDIA; PerkinElmer; Qorvo; Quanta Services; Ralph Lauren; Skyworks Solutions; Symantec; TECO Energy; Teradata; TripAdvisor; Walt Disney