US Stock Futures Up; All Eyes On Jobless Claims Data

US stock futures are slightly higher this morning, as investors are awaiting weekly jobless claims data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 17 points to 12,933.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 1.10 points to 1,357.00. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 6 points to 2,584.75. US stocks closed lower on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.21% to 12,938.67, the S&P 500 index declining 0.33% to 1,357.66 and the Nasdaq 100 index dipping 0.52% to 2,933.17. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. However, Federal Housing Finance Agency home prices for December will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Safeway Inc

is expected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.64 per share on revenue of $13.47 billion. Officemax Incorporated

is estimated to post its Q4 EPS at $0.14 on revenue of $1.80 billion. Target Corp

is expected to post its Q4 earnings at $1.40 per share on revenue of $21.20 billion. American International Group Inc

is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.61 per share on revenue of $13.19 billion. Kohls Corp

is estimated to report its Q4 earnings at $1.80 per share on revenue of $6.06 billion. Gap Inc

is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.42 per share on revenue of $4.28 billion. Sears Holdings Corp

is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.78 per share on revenue of $12.44 billion. MetroPCS Communications Inc

is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.16 per share on revenue of $1.24 billion. Salesforce.com Inc

is estimated to report its Q4 earnings at $0.40 per share on revenue of $622.85 million. Public Service Enterprise Group

is expected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.48 on revenue of $3.11 billion. Hewlett-Packard Company

posted its adjusted Q1 earnings at $0.92 per share, down from $1.36 per share, in the year-earlier period. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.87 per share. Analog Devices Inc

posted a 37% decline in its fiscal first-quarter profit and lifted its quarterly dividend by 20%. European markets were mostly lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.23%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.10%, French CAC 40 index fell 0.09% and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.23%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surging 0.44%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.25% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.11%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.78% and India's Sensex dropped 0.37%. Crude oil futures for April delivery gained $0.22 to $106.50 a barrel. Gold futures for April delivery gained $6.50 to $1,777.80 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) dropped 0.32% to 78.98, from 79.207 on Wednesday.