US stocks seen starting higher on profits, oil

NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) US stock futures inched higher on Thursday, suggesting a stronger opening on Wall Street, as higher-than-expected corporate profits and a pullback in oil prices to the lowest level this year bolstered confidence about corporate profits.

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corp. rose 0.5 percent in European trading after the company said fourth-quarter profit rose, beating its lowered forecast. For details, see ID:nN12173651.

A slew of economic data on Thursday, including weekly jobless claims, international trade figures and the Federal Reserve's beige book of economic conditions could provide clues about the health of the economy and direction for interest rates.

''Right now it appears we have a muted morning ahead of earnings to give us further direction,'' said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in Princeton, New Jersey. ''People expect the earnings to justify the strong market performance that we've had recently.'' Standard&Poor's 500 futures were up 0.3 point, above fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.

Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 5 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 1.25 points.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil futures slipped as low as .24 a barrel in electronic trading -- the lowest level this year -- on the lack of a formal OPEC agreement to cut production.

Shares of Lam Research Corp. rose 5.5 percent after the closing bell on Wednesday after the supplier of tools for making microchips posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit. ID:nWEN6808 Shares of Genzyme Corp., Harley-Davidson, McDonald's and PepsiCo were expected to report quarterly results before the opening bell.

The government will release weekly jobless claims and August trade data at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT). Economists polled by Reuters forecast a median total of 310,000 new jobless claims for the latest week and a .7 billion trade deficit, down from .0 billion in July.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday after some high-profile earnings disappointments sullied the outlook for corporate profits and minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting dashed hopes for an interest-rate cut any time soon.

Federal Reserve Board Governor Frederic Mishkin is due to speak at 1 p.m. (1700 GMT).

The beige book is expected at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT).

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI> slipped 15.04 points, or 0.13 percent, to end at 11,852.13. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index .SPX> declined 3.47 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1,349.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC> was down 7.16 points, or 0.31 percent, at 2,308.27.

REUTERS PKS BST1708