US STOCKS-Dow and S&P set for higher open after dovish signals from ECB

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* ECB opens door for future rate cuts
* Ford falls after quarterly profit miss
* 3M gains after reiterating FY outlook
* Tesla slips after steeper-than-expected Q2 loss
* Futures: Dow up 0.40%, S&P up 0.17%, Nasdaq down 0.12%

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By Amy Caren Daniel
July 25 (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P were on course to
open higher on Thursday as the European Central Bank opened the
door for future interest rate cuts in the euro zone, while a
clutch of mixed earnings reports kept a lid on gains.
Nasdaq futures NQcv1 were pressured by Tesla Inc TSLA.O
shares which tumbled 10.9% after the electric carmaker softened
its language once again on meeting its profit timeline after
missing its quarterly financial targets. The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged, but
revamped its interest rate guidance and asked its staff to
prepare options for more policy easing, explicitly opening the
door to a rate cut as soon as September. "Right now it is probably too early for the ECB to do
something, but at this point they are moving towards an easier
policy," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in
St. Petersburg, Florida.
Hopes that the Federal Reserve would lower rates when it
meets next week, to counter the impact of a protracted
U.S.-China trade war has helped Wall Street's main indexes hit
record highs this month.
"I don't think it's all too surprising that we're getting a
mixed bag of earnings and some pockets of weakness. The key for
investors is if these pockets of weakness are a sign of an
economic downturn or just a slow patch," Brown said.
3M Co MMM.N rose 5.1% after the manufacturing conglomerate
reiterated its full-year earnings forecast despite slowing
growth in high-profile markets such as China. S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit an all-time high once again on
Wednesday after Texas Instruments hinted that a global slowdown
in microchip demand would not be as long as feared, which
countered bleak earnings from bellwether companies Boeing and
Caterpillar.
Two weeks into the second-quarter earnings season, about 77%
of the 138 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have
topped earnings estimates, according to Refinitiv data.
Overall earnings, however, are now expected to fall 0.1%,
compared with a prior estimate of a rise of about 1%.
Facebook Inc FB.O gained 1.6% after the social media giant
reported quarterly revenue that beat estimates, but said new
rules and product changes aimed at protecting user privacy would
slow its revenue growth into next year.
At 8:22 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 108 points, or
0.4%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 5.25 points, or 0.17% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 9.25 points, or 0.12%.
Ford Motor Co F.N fell 5.2% after the automaker reported a
lower-than-expected profit and gave a disappointing full-year
earnings forecast. Align Technology ALGN.O plunged 20.6% as the orthodontic
device maker gave a current quarter outlook that came below
estimates, reflecting a cautious view for growth in Asia-Pacific
region.