US stocks again subdued at open, Comey's testimony and UK election results awaited

Major US equity indices witnessed a subdued opening and struggled for direction on Thursday as investors look forward to former FBI Director James Comey's Senate testimony.

'Super Thursday' kicked off with the ECB monetary policy decision, where the central bank left rates unchanged but adopted a more hawkish tone and upgraded region's economic growth outlook through 2019. Meanwhile, the central bank remained more cautious on the inflation outlook and lowered its inflation projection amid concerns over core inflation trajectory. 

Next in focus would be Comey's testimony on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election. With Comey's prepared remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee, released on Wednesday, doing little to influence investors' sentiment, the UK election results remains the key risk and could produce some big moves. 

The recent UK election polls have been indicating a much tighter race than anyone might have anticipated and hence, an outright majority for the ruling Conservative Party should lift investors’ appetite for riskier assets - like equities.

At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by around 10-points to 21,184, while the broader S&P 500 Index was flat-lined around 2,432. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index touched fresh intraday record highs but has now retreated from highs, currently holding with losses of 10-points to 6,287.