Thursday, Dec 22, 2011

By Barbara Kollmeyer

U.S. stock-market futures pointed to a higher open, bolstered by a rebound for European markets. Investors awaited further signs of health in the economy from data such as jobless claims and leading indicators.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were recently up 64 points to 12088. Futures for the S&P 500 index rose 7 points to 1243.25. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 12 points to 2251.

Wall Street made a late recovery on Wednesday, though the Nasdaq Composite fell 1% after Oracle Corp. (ORCL) shares slumped in the wake of downbeat results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 4.16 points, or 0.03%, to 12107.74.

The Dow Jones industrials had slumped more than 100 points at one point during the session after news that the European Central Bank lent far more to the region's banks in three-year loans than was expected.

Europe stocks were in rebound mode as investors reassessed the ECB funding move, with banks among the biggest gainers. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 1% to 239.76 in recent action.

"Yesterday wasn't a great day with all the headlines about the ECB. The market have now had an opportunity to assess yesterday's trading and are saying the gloom was perhaps overdone," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec.

U.S. data was expected to move front and center stage on Thursday, with weekly jobless claims and final third-quarter gross-domestic-product data both due at 8:30 a.m., EST. At 9:55 a.m. EST, the University of Michigan's final December consumer-confidence index will be released.

At 10 a.m., EST, leading indicators for November and the FHFA home-price index for October will be released.

Out of that heavy schedule, Shaw said weekly jobless claims will get the most attention. "The general consensus is that the U.S. economy is beginning to gather a bit of momentum. Another key issue is the extent to which the jobs market is returning to a touch more health," he said.

"Although it is very volatile on a weekly basis, it can give you a timely indication of how the employment situation is evolving," Shaw said.

Last week's claims showed the fewest number of applications for unemployment benefits since May 2008. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect claims to rise to 375,000 from a prior 366,000.

On the corporate front, shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) could see pressure. Shares fell late Wednesday after the retailer just beat forecasts with fiscal third-quarter earnings.

Shares of Tibco Software Inc. (TIBX) could come into focus after fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell short of forecasts.

American Greetings Corp. (AM) is due to report fiscal third-quarter earnings before the opening bell. The average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet Research was 81 cents a share of profit on revenue of $439.4 million.

In commodities Wednesday, gold for February delivery fell $1.80 to $1,61.30.

Crude oil for February delivery was up 36 cents to $99.03 a barrel. That followed a 1.5% gain on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday after a bigger-than-expected drop in weekly crude supplies.

The dollar index fell to 79.87 from 79.999 in North America late trade Tuesday. The index measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies

-By Barbara Kollmeyer; 34 91 395 8131; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 22, 2011 07:38 ET (12:38 GMT)