US stocks flat during early trade

Major US equity indices witness a softer opening and struggled for a firm direction as investors remained concerned over the recent sell-off in oil prices, despite of a modest rebound on Thursday.

Following Wednesday's slump to the lowest level since August, WTI crude oil was last seen trading with gains of around 0.65%, near $42.80 region, but did little to boost investors' appetite for riskier assets - like equities.

At the time of writing, all the three major indices - the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broader S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, were nearly unchanged from yesterday's closing level. 

Among individual movers, American Airlines Group shared rose sharply after Qatar Airways expressed interest in buying a large stake in the carrier. Meanwhile shared Oracle Corp. surged around 10% in wake of its earnings report out late Wednesday, which easily surpassed analyst expectations. 

On the economic data front, weekly jobless claims rose slight more than expected to 241K during the week ended June 16 but reaffirmed the underlying strength in the US labor market. 

Investors now look forward to the Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on bank reform and economic growth, due in a short while from now.