Stock futures were mixed Thursday morning, indicating a similar start to U.S. stocks. While the S&P 500 showed weakness ahead of housing data to be released at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Nasdaq composite was slightly positive after Amazon.com reported strong earnings Wednesday. Investors also braced for Ford's earnings, which indeed posted double the estimated loss. The earnings wave continues. Meanwhile, oil prices edged a little higher, but remained around $124 a barrel.

Starting with Ford (NYSE: F) then, the world's third largest automaker posted (after items) a loss of $1.38 billion, or 62 cents. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected Ford to report a loss of 28 cents a share. The headlines scream of a loss of $8.7 billion though, which includes $8 billion in pretax writedowns of North American plants and assets of Ford Motor Credit Co. Ford also said it will convert three truck factories to produce small cars as rising gasoline prices sap U.S. truck sales.

Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) couldn't manage to offset higher costs of energy and raw materials with the recent price increases it announced, and posted a 27% decrease in profit for the period. Net income was $762 million, or 81 cents a share. Revenue is up 23% to $16.38 billion. Earnings were below analyst expectation according to Thomson Financial of 85 cents per share, but better than the sales estimates of $14.9 billion. DOW shares are dropping some 9.5% in premarket trading as the company said it expects the economy to weaken.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) posted strong earnings Wednesday after the close, proving its growth days aren't over in this weakened economy hurt by high gas prices. Not only did it beat estimates -- with a 41% climb in revenue to $4.06 billion compared to $3.96 expected, and EPS of 37 cents compared to expectations of 26 cents -- but it also raised its full-year revenue projections. AMZN shares are climbing about 6.5% in premarket trading.

Daimler AG (NYSE: DAI) shares are dropping nearly 11% in premarket trading after the world's second-biggest luxury carmaker cut its forecast for earnings this year. Daimler reported that second-quarter profit declined 25%.

Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) shares are down about a percent in premarket trading despite the world's biggest maker of psychiatric drugs posting said second-quarter earnings that rose 44% "on surging sales of the antidepressant Cymbalta and the impotence pill Cialis." Earnings were inline with estimates, but Lilly lowered its 2008 forecast.

Dow component 3M (NYSE: MMM) says its second-quarter profit rose slightly on strong double-digit growth in international markets. The industrial conglomerate's earnings came in at $1.39 per share excluding charges, beating estimates of $1.35 per share. Similarly, sales topped analysts forecast.

In non-earnings news, Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) shares are jumping about 20% in premarket trading after the cell phone chip maker and handset maker Nokia (NYSE: NOK) have finally agreed to settle a high-stakes licensing dispute and drop all legal complaints against each other in the U.S., Europe and Asia. NOK shares are trading over 2% higher in premarket action.

Some analyst calls:
JPMorgan downgraded Costco (NASDAQ: COST) and AT&T (NYSE: T) from Overweight to Neutral.
Cowen & Co downgraded Boeing (NYSE: BA) from Outperform to Neutral.
Deutsche Securities downgraded McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) from Buy to Hold.