U.S. futures up on strong corporate earnings

NEW YORK — U.S. corporate earnings were back in focus Thursday, sending stock futures higher with better-than-expected results from numerous companies over a wide range of sectors.

And there is more evidence that the job market continues to grow stronger, though more unevenly than some economists had thought.

Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 20 points to 12,977 and Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 2.1 points at 1,380.4. Nasdaq composite futures rose 8.75 points to 2,703.25.

With little corporate or economic news out of the U.S. on Wednesday, stock markets slid on yet more ominous news out of Europe. The Bank of Spain reported that the total amount of bad loans on the books at the nation’s banks rose to an 18-year high.

However, there were better-than-expected earnings reports Thursday from U.S. banks, health insurers, chemical makers and airlines, bringing attention back to what appears to be a sustained recovery for the U.S. economy.

Shares of Southwest Airlines and Bank of America rose in premarket trading after posting quarterly results Thursday.

Shares of Morgan Stanley rise nearly 6 percent after the bank trounced Wall Street expectations.

DuPont Co. also posted higher profits and UnitedHealth Group Inc. beat most analyst expectations as profits rose 3 percent to $1.39 billion.

Union Pacific Corp. posted a 35 percent spike in profits for the first quarter.

The Labor Department said that applications for unemployment benefits dipped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 386,000 from previous week’s upwardly revised figure.

While many economists expected those applications would have fallen more rapidly, employment figures have moved steadily lower and compared with three to four years ago, there is room for optimism.

The National Association of Realtors is expected to report Thursday an increase in sales of previously occupied homes.

Home sales are up nearly 13 percent since July, but are still far below where they would need to be to signal a healthy market. However, the first two months made up the best winter for sales of previously occupied homes in five years, when the housing crisis began, and investors are paying a lot of attention to momentum.

The housing report is due at 10 a.m. Eastern time.