Futures are higher

It's relatively quiet in markets ahead of the opening bell on Thursday morning.

Stock futures are slightly higher, after an all-day rally yesterday and a surge in the final minutes of trading pushed the Dow up nearly 300 points. Near 7:04 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up 65 points, S&P 500 futures were up 7 points, and Nasdaq futures were up 17 points. 

Here's a reminder of how volatile the last few days have been for stocks:

Shortly, the European Central Bank will provide an update to monetary policy and president Mario Draghi will hold a press conference. Economists are expecting it to be largely a non event.

In a note to clients Thursday, Societe Generale's Kit Juckes wrote, "We expect the ECB meeting to be a low-key event with no change in policy and only minor adjustments to the staff projections. President Draghi is likely to maintain a dovish tone while signaling that the ECB is ready to act further if needed."  

The US dollar index is little changed, near 95.91. Against the euro, the dollar is virtually flat at about $1.1223.

It's all about the labor market as we head into Friday, when the official jobs report for August crosses. The US economic data flow today starts with the monthly report on job cuts from staffing firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. And then, we'll get the weekly initial jobless claims numbers.

Also due this morning are the trade balance, and then a look at how the services sector is doing through the ISM and Markit PMIs.