So Much for Wednesday's Out of the Blue Reversal in Stocks

New York (Jan 25)  Wall Street futures bounced back into positive territory Thursday as the U.S. dollar plunged to a fresh three-year low amid an increasing intense debate over global trade rules ahead of President Donald Trump's keynote address to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were marked 34 points higher from their Wednesday close, swinging around 60 points during the European session, while those tied to the broader S&P 500 were seen 3.75 points, or 0.14%, to the updside ahead of fourth quarter earnings from Dow components Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) , Intel Corp. (INTC) and 3M (MMM) .

However, the session's biggest influence is likely to come from the dollar, which extended its decline in early European trading despite Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's attempts to clarify comments he made to reporters yesterday in Davos as he arrived at the World Economic Forum. Munchin said his views on the greenback were "clear" and "consistent" but again noted that he wasn't concerned where the dollar was trading in the short term.

"I thought my comment on the dollar was actually quite clear yesterday," Mnuchin said. "I thought it was actually balanced and consistent with what I've said before, which is, we are not concerned with where the dollar is in the short term. And it's a very very liquid market."

Mnuchin also addressed the issue of global trade, telling a panel in Davos that while "we're not looking to get into trade wars. On the other hand we are looking to defend America's interests."

That helped push the dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, to a fresh three-year low of 89.01 as leaders from around the world -- including the International Monetary Fund's Managing Director, Christine Lagarde -- cautioned on the notion of a global currency way.

TheStreet