Market relief; Lyft and Uber; Oil boost

"We have a welcome respite this morning, but the August mood is fearful," said Societe Generale strategist Kit Juckes. "The sky could fall in at any moment!"

US stock futures point slightly higher after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished a volatile trading session Wednesday in positive territory. The Dow gave up some last-minute gains and finished with a loss.

Promising trade data from China and a stable yuan sent Asian markets higher Thursday. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.9% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.5%. Japan's Nikkei increased 0.4%.

European markets also opened higher. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.2%, while Germany's DAX advanced 0.4%.

2. Lyft and Uber: Lyft is still losing tons of money. But its outlook is improving.

The ride sharing company, which reported earnings after markets closed on Wednesday, now expects revenue for the full year to hit as much as $3.5 billion due to strong rider growth. That's $200 million higher than it had previously forecast.

Shares are up 4% in premarket trading. Gains were pared after the company said in a regulatory filing that insiders will be able to sell off more than 250 million shares of the company's stock sooner than expected.

Next up is Uber. The company will report earnings after US markets close.

3. Oil boost: Oil prices are attempting to push out of a bear market.

Futures of Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 2.3% Thursday to $57.52 a barrel, recovering some of the week's losses. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers are looking at ways to prop up prices.

Brent crude is still off more than 20% from its recent April peak due to persistent fears about slowing global economic growth and the US-China trade war. That's outweighed concerns about geopolitical tensions in Venezuela and Iran that could hit supply.

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4. Coming this week:

Thursday — China imports and exports; AMC Entertainment, Viacom, CBS, Activision Blizzard, Uber and Yelp earningsFriday — China inflation data; Japan GDP; US Producer Price Index