About half an hour before the opening bell, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures are down 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively, pointing to a further decline for both indexes.

At Wednesday's close, the Dow Jones rose 0.53% to 49,501.3 points, while the S&P 500 fell 0.51% to 6,882.7 points and the Nasdaq 100 slid 1.77% to end at 24,891.2 points.

In its quarterly report, Alphabet said it expects to invest between $175bn and $185bn in 2026, well above market expectations, which on average had been for $115.3bn.

The announcement, which was poorly received by investors in after-hours trading, underscores the Google and YouTube parent's determination to strengthen its position in the global race for artificial intelligence.

Qualcomm, for its part, posted quarterly results above expectations but disappointed investors with lowered guidance for the current quarter due to the global memory shortage.

Among the morning's releases, industrial gases supplier Linde reported adjusted EPS up 6% to $4.20 for the last three months of 2025, broadly in line with consensus.

Pharmaceutical group Bristol-Myers Squibb reported adjusted EPS down 25% to $1.26 for Q4 2025, a figure nonetheless 2% above consensus.

On the data front, initial jobless claims came in at 231,000 last week, up 22,000 from the previous week, according to the Labor Department.

In addition, the latest report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed planned layoffs by US companies totaled 108,435 last month, the highest figure for any January since 2009.

On the jobs front, it is worth noting that the Labor Department pushed back to February 11 the release of its January employment report (initially scheduled for Friday) due to the shutdown that has affected the administration in recent days.