US STOCKS-Futures edge higher ahead of bank earnings; Twitter jumps on Musk's takeover offer

Twitter Inc jumped 12% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he has offered to buy 100% of the social media company for $54.2 per share in cash. UnitedHealth Group Inc rose 1.1% after reporting a 3.5% rise in quarterly profit, helped in part by strength at its Optum healthcare services unit.

U.S. stock index futures ticked higher on Thursday, ahead of first-quarter earnings from a slew of Wall Street lenders on the last day of a holiday-shortened week, while Twitter shares jumped after Elon Musk's takeover offer. Among big banks that are reporting later in the day, Morgan Stanley edged lower, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc , Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co gained between 0.3% and 0.8% in premarket trading.

Quarterly results from big U.S. banks are expected to show a sharp decline in investment banking revenue and first-quarter earnings overall due to companies pausing deals amid choppy equity markets. JPMorgan Chase & Co's CEO Jamie Dimon warned of economic uncertainties arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and soaring inflation on Wednesday, after first-quarter profits at the largest U.S. bank slumped 42%.

Nevertheless, Wall Street's main indexes rallied sharply in the previous session after a rough start to the week boosted by a recovery in tech and tech-adjacent stocks as treasury yields receded from near three-year highs. Twitter Inc jumped 12% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he has offered to buy 100% of the social media company for $54.2 per share in cash.

UnitedHealth Group Inc rose 1.1% after reporting a 3.5% rise in quarterly profit, helped in part by strength at its Optum healthcare services unit. At 6:15 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 66 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 1 point, or 0.02%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 15.75 points, or 0.11%.

In economic news, the Commerce Department is expected to release retail sales data at 8:30 a.m. ET, which is expected to have increased 0.6% in March following a 0.3% gain in the earlier month. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits data, also released at the same time, is expected to have risen 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 171,000 for the week ended April 9.

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