Futures slip ahead of earnings deluge

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LONDON (CNNMoney.com) -- Stock futures slipped early Thursday as investors caught their breath after the previous session's strong gains and awaited another batch of corporate earnings.

At 4:50 a.m. ET, S&P futures were a shade lower and indicating a flat to positive open for stocks.

Techs are likely to get support after bellwether IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) posted strong quarterly results late Wednesday. The company posted earnings that were well ahead of expectations.

The earnings deluge continues with quarterly results due from financial giant Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500). The company, due to report before the market open, is expected to post a steep loss.

Dow components Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) and United Tech (UTX, Fortune 500) also are slated to post results before the opening bell. Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and AMD (AMD, Fortune 500) are set to release earnings after the market close.

Stocks surged Wednesday after chipmaker Intel and JP Morgan both posted results that came in above expectations.

In major corporate news, the Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) is closer to outsourcing its search advertising to Google.

In global trade, Japan stocks rallied. Major markets in Europe also rose in early trading.