Indications: U.S. stock futures slip; ECB, Greece in focus

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) � U.S. stock futures erased losses Thursday after reports that Greek politicians had reached an austerity deal and U.S. jobless claims fell again last week.

Stock-index futures trimmed their rise as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said economic uncertainty remained elevated. He spoke at a press conference after the central bank left interest rates unchanged.

Clearing losses, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average �rose 18 points to 12,861 and those on the Standard & Poor�s 500 stock index �gained 1.9 points to 1,348.9.

Nasdaq 100 futures �advanced 4.25 points to 2,549.

Click to Play Greek leaders: Let's make a deal

Greece�s leaders meet with the goal of hammering out a debt bailout deal.

In London, the Bank of England, as expected, expanded its asset-purchase program by 50 billion pounds (more than $79 billion) to a total of �325 billion in an effort to revive the British economy, which contracted in the fourth quarter of last year. The bank also kept rates at 0.5%.

In Frankfurt, the European Central Bank kept interest rates at 1%.

European stock markets edged higher on Thursday, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP �up 0.5%. The euro EURUSD �rose to $1.3287.

In the commodity markets, March crude-oil futures �gained 85 cents to $99.56 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.

The blue-chip Dow industrials DJIA �gained 0.04% on Wednesday to end at 12,883.95, its highest closing value since May 19, 2008.

At the White House, President Barack Obama is due to meet Thursday with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

In China, data showed inflation rose faster than expected in January, as food prices surged during the Lunar New Year holiday. China�s consumer-price index increased 4.5% last month from a year earlier, compared with a 4.1% rise in December, data showed.

Flemming Nielsen, senior analyst at Danske Bank, said the acceleration in inflation should prove temporary, but Thursday�s data �will be an additional argument for the People�s Bank of China to only ease monetary policy cautiously.�