Stocks set for a mixed open as the earnings bonanza continues

The Dow is set to open higher, but stocks are mixed Thursday on one of the biggest days of the earnings season.

Dow futures are up 0.3%, while futures for the S&P 500 are up 0.1%. Futures for the Nasdaq Composite are in the red, down 0.2%.

Both the S&P and the Nasdaq closed at new record highs on Wednesday.

Earnings season is in full swing and it’s one of its busiest days yet.

Before the bell, American Airlines reported second quarter results, forecasting a $400 million hit for full-year earnings from Boeing’s 737 Max crisis.

3M and Budweiser-parent Anheuser-Busch InBev also reported before the opening bell rings. Both beat earnings expectations.

Internet giants Google and Amazon, as well as chip maker Intel and Starbucks, will report after the market close.

The European Central Bank delivered it’s monetary policy update. The central bank left interest rates unchanged and said rates would remain at their current levels or lower “at least through the first half of 2020.”

Investors now expect the ECB to ease its policy in September. The central bank said in a statement it would “examine options” such as new asset purchases.

Looser monetary policy supports stock prices, because it allows companies to borrow at cheaper rates. European equities are in the green across the board, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index up 0.8%.

The ECB update comes less than a week before the Federal Reserve meeting at which investors expect interest rates to get cut by at least a quarter percentage point.