U.S. stock futures pointed to gains for Wall Street Thursday, finding support as oil prices began to push higher, but investors still have to assess a raft of data that could influence the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMZ6, +0.21% rose 43 points, or 0.2%, to 17,961.00, while those for the S&P 500 index ESZ6, +0.17% added 5.2 points, or 0.3%, to 2,118.50. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index NQZ6, +0.31% climbed 11.75 points, or 0.3%, to 4,740.25.
Futures started showing more of an advance as oil futures turned higher, with Brent crude LCOX6, +0.85% up nearly 1%. West Texas Intermediate CLV6, +0.60% was up a more modest 0.3%.
Slumping crude-oil prices weighed on stocks on Wednesday, leaving the Dow industrials DJIA, -0.18% and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.06% to close in negative territory.
Data deluge: But the direction of Thursday’s trading action could come down to a deluge of economic data arriving premarket. In the limelight are retail sales for August, out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, as they work as a bellwether for the broader economy.
Sales have been somewhat soft in 2016, and economists polled by MarketWatch expect August to be no different—they forecast a 0.1% dip last month, slightly weaker than in July. Retail sales excluding volatile auto sales are forecast to have risen 0.2%.
“This won’t be enough to shift markets expectations on a rate move, but an upside surprise is likely to push the U.S. dollar higher,” said Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM, in a note.
The ICE dollar index DXY, +0.10% was 0.1% higher at 95.363 in early premarket trade.
