Check back for updates throughout the trading day U.S. equity futures edged modestly higher in early trading, extending gains from last night's solid close as investors shifted focus from trade tensions to a busy slate of corporate earnings and tomorrow's key January jobs report.

Trading on Wall Street is mixed and subdued with the arrival of more quarterly financial reports from major corporations and new data on the U.S. jobs market due over the final two days of the week. Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrials shifted between tiny gains and losses before the bell Thursday,

Asian shares are trading mostly higher after a Wall Street rally that followed profit reports from major companies