U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday as heavyweight Tesla surged on strong results and United Airlines predicted a surprise profit in its current quarter, boosting shares of other carriers.

Tesla (TSLA), the world's most valuable automaker jumped 7.7% in premarket trading as higher prices helped it overcome supply-chain chaos and rising costs.

In the previous session, heavy losses in Netflix Inc.'s shares (NFLX) following its dismal results had triggered a selloff in technology and growth stocks and pushed the tech-heavy Nasdaq down more than 1%.

Another bright spot was United Airlines Holdings Inc. Shares rose 7.5% as it forecast profit for the second quarter and said booming travel demand could generate the highest quarterly revenue in its history.

Shares of peers American Airlines Group Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and Delta Air Lines Inc. gained between 2.5% and 4.8%.

Overall, analysts expect S&P 500 earnings growth of 6.5% in the first quarter as of Wednesday, compared to the 32.1% growth in the previous quarter, according to Refinitiv data.

Investors will focus on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech later in the day for clues on monetary policy tightening plans, with many expecting a 50 basis points rate hike next month.

U.S. stocks have come under pressure this month, with high-growth stocks taking a hit from a surge in Treasury yields due to galloping inflation and hawkish remarks from Fed policymakers.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits will be released at 08:30 am ET. Claims are expected to have fallen 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 180,000 for the week ended April 16.

At 06:42 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 211 points, or 0.6%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 34.75 points, or 0.78%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 155.75 points, or 1.11%.

AT&T Inc rose 1.5% after posting a rise in core wireless revenue for the first quarter, as the telecom giant benefited from the aggressive expansion of its fiber internet and 5G services. (Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)