U.S. stock index futures barely budged on Thursday, as results from Taiwan's TSMC failed to shake investors from their cautious mood following a rollercoaster session marked by concerns about the Federal Reserve's independence.

Wall Street appears calm after President Donald Trump walked back his earlier threats to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

U.S. natural gas futures were higher for a third day with weather forecasts showing strong heat-driven demand for the second half of July.

A healthy crop of earnings helped European stocks bust out of a four-day losing streak on Thursday, Wall Street was watching Netflix and the dollar bounced after U.S. President Donald Trump quashed talk he was about to fire Fed head Jerome Powell.

Early trading on Wall Street was quietly mixed as markets shift their attention toward a deluge of corporate earnings reports.

The fastest rise in US inflation this year hit Wall Street stocks, with the blowback expected to hit the ASX today. Follow the day's events and insights from our business reporters on the ABC News live markets blog.

With the deadline for tariffs now moved to August 1, investors are pinning their hopes on negotiations to stave off an all-out trade war. "Market volatility is likely to pick up, but the latest development does not constitute an escalation in the trade war," UBS analysts said.

U.S. equity futures edged slightly higher early Tuesday as markets geared up for a high-stakes session featuring earnings reports from top Wall Street banks and the latest consumer inflation data. Investors are also digesting upbeat growth figures from China and a key update from Nvidia regarding its AI chip sales in the Chinese market.