Stock market today: US futures tick up as traders wait for March job numbers

• US stock futures climbed ahead of Thursday's opening bell.
• Investors are waiting for the March non-farm payrolls report for clues about interest rates.
• Jerome Powell said the Fed won't start cutting borrowing costs until it's sure inflation is falling.

US stocks looked set to trade higher at Thursday's opening bell as investors mulled Jerome Powell's latest comments on inflation and waited for the release of the March non-farm payrolls report.

Futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.3% shortly after 5 a.m. ET, while Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was on pace to add about 90 points.

Federal Reserve Chair Powell stuck to the expected script on Wednesday, signaling to the market that the central bank will need more evidence that inflation is cooling toward its 2% target before it starts to cut interest rates.

"Recent readings on both job gains and inflation have come in higher than expected," he said in a speech at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Friday's job numbers could shift that narrative, though. Any signs of a slowdown in hiring or a rise in unemployment would boost the argument for the Fed to slash borrowing costs sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, yields on 10-year Treasury notes were flat and the US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six other currencies, slipped 0.1%.