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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open Thursday, as the investors await details about the European Central Bank's bond-buying plan, along with a smattering of reports on the U.S. labor market.
ECB president Mario Draghi is expected to offer up details about the bond-buying program during an 8:30 a.m. ET press conference.
The plan is expected to be aimed primarily at Spain and Italy, which have been struggling with unsustainably high borrowing costs. Investors' hopes were raised last month, when Draghi said he would do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro. The bank's rate announcement is due at 7:45 a.m. ET.
European stocks were higher and the euro hit a two-month high against the U.S. dollar in anticipation of Draghi's comments, which many hope will help stem Europe's debt crisis.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England left its benchmark rate unchanged at 0.5%.
On the domestic front, a handful of reports on unemployment and hiring are due out, which will give investors a preview of what the domestic jobs picture looks like ahead of Friday's monthly employment report.
The government is expected to report Friday that employers added 120,000 jobs in August, according to economists surveyed by CNNMoney. Investors will be paying especially close attention to Friday 's jobs report since it will likely influence the Federal Reserve's decision on whether it will announce more quantitative easing at the conclusion of its next meeting on Sept. 12-13.
U.S. stocks ended little changed Wednesday.
World Markets: Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.6%, the DAX in Germany rose 1.3% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.9%.
Second-quarter growth in the euro area decreased by 0.2% compared with the previous quarter, according to second estimates released by Eurostat on Thursday. GDP for the eurozone was 0.5% lower than the same quarter last year.
Asian markets closed higher Thursday. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.7% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.3%, while Japan's Nikkei ended slightly above breakeven.
Related: Chinese make 25% of world's luxury buys
Economy: At 8:15 a.m. ET, payroll processing firm ADP will release a report on August private-sector employment. The report is expected to show a gain of 143,000 private-sector jobs, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.
The ADP report follows data due at 7:30 a.m. ET from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas on planned job cuts in August.
At 8:30 a.m. ET, the Labor Department will release data on initial jobless claims, which are expected to total 373,000 for the week ended September 1.
At 10 a.m. ET, the Institute for Supply Management will release the August edition of its service-sector index, which is expected to stand at 52.4, down from 52.6 in the month prior.
Companies: Corporate results are due after the bell Thursday from apparel producer Quiksilver (ZQK) and gun-maker Smith & Wesson (SWHC).
Quiksilver is expected to post quarterly earnings of 5 cents a share on $527 million in revenue, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com. Smith & Wesson is tipped to report earnings of 18 cents a share on $129 million in revenue.
Shares of Nokia's (NOK) were slightly higher in premarket trading after plunging more than 15% Wednesday, when the company the introduced two new smartphones. Both devices, which run on the latest Windows 8 operating system, failed to woo investors.
Related: Nokia stock sinks as new Lumias disappoint
Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) is expected to unveil a new Kindle line Thursday afternoon. Last week the company reported that its Kindle Fire had sold out.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar edged lower against the euro and the British pound but picked up ground versus the Japanese yen.
Oil for October delivery rose $1.14 to $96.50 a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery gained $16 to $1,712.30 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, pushing the yield down to 1.59% from 1.65% late Monday.
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