U.S. stock futures point to a lower open, a day after stocks rallied on hopes of a thaw in the U.S.-China trade war and that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will get to keep his job.

Stock futures were dropping Thursday, with investors still trying to make sense of the U.S.-China trade war after Chinese officials denied reports that the world's two largest economies have started tariff negotiations.

(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday, with a brief equity rally fizzling out as investors assessed the latest twists and turns in the Trump administration's erratic trade policy, and a bevy of mixed corporate results.