US pre-open: Stocks mixed ahead of jobless claims data

Wall Street stocks were mostly higher ahead of the bell on Thursday following yet another losing session for the blue-chip Dow Jones.

As of 1230 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.01%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.42% and 0.79% higher, respectively.

The Dow closed 47.20 points lower on Wednesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session.

Market participants have grown worried that a strong December retail sales report could result in fewer-than-anticipated rate cuts from the central bank, with traders currently pricing in an approximately 56% chance of a quarter percentage point rate cut in March. Also of note, the benchmark ten-year Treasury yield topped 4.1% on Wednesday before falling back to roughly 4.07% early on Thursday.

On the macro front, jobless claims data from the Labor Department, December housing starts figures, and the Philadelphia Fed's January manufacturing survey will all be published at 1330 GMT, while Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta president Raphael Bostic will deliver a speech at 1705 GMT.

In the corporate space, Apple shares were up in pre-market after the tech behemoth was on the receiving end of an upgrade from analysts at Bank of America.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com