Futures are slightly higher

US stock futures are slightly higher in early going this morning after a down close on Wednesday.

Near 6:40 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up 49 points, S&P 500 futures were up 6 points, and Nasdaq futures were up 14 points.

A rally in early trading yesterday fizzled, leaving the major indexes in the red for the day. This was a repeat of a lot of the uncertainty we're seeing in markets, especially ahead of the Federal Reserve's big interest rate announcement next week.

The Bank of England left its key rate unchanged. It's been at a record-low of 0.5% for six years.

It's red in most other major markets around the world. After a 7.7% spike on Wednesday, Japan's Nikkei index got crushed. It closed down 2.5%, or 470 points.

China's Shanghai Composite fell about 1%. The latest inflation data showed that China's CPI rose 2% year-on-year, the highest in 13 months. Much of this increase came from a rise in pork prices, which jumped 19.6% year-on-year.

The US economic calendar is light today, with initial jobless claims due at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Energy Information Administration will release weekly crude oil inventory numbers at 10:30 a.m.; on Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported a build by 2.1 million barrels, more than expected. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed about 1% to as high as $44.95 after dropping 3% yesterday.

This post is being updated.