US pre-open: Stocks little changed ahead of jobless claims data and PPI reading
Wall Street futures were only slightly higher ahead of the bell on Thursday as market participants awaited the publication of both this week's jobless claims figures and November's producer price index.
As of 1150 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.13%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.05% and 0.04% firmer, respectively.
The Dow closed 38.30 points higher on Wednesday and the Nasdaq Composite turned in a third straight day of gains as investors digested December's consumer price index reading.
Thursday's primary focusses will be the publication of the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' December producer price index, both of which were scheduled for 1430 GMT.
Analysts expect initial jobless claims to drop slightly from 207,000 to 200,000, while the PPI's headline number was forecast to grow 0.4%, up from November's print of 0.8%.
Investors were also preparing themselves for the beginning of fourth-quarter earnings season, with BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all scheduled to report on Friday.
However, earnings were still pretty thin on the ground on Thursday as the only major US firm scheduled to report was Delta Air Lines, which posted a beat on both profit and revenues in the pre-market as it reaffirmed full-year guidance.
Elsewhere, Federal Reserve board member Lael Brained will testify in front of the Senate Banking Committee at 1600 GMT, while Patrick Harker and Charles Evans will also deliver speeches throughout the course of the day.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note ticked up slightly to 1.749% ahead of the bell.