Weekly jobless claims, consumer-sentiment data on tap By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch MADRID (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street, bolstered by a rebound for European markets. Investors awaited data such as jobless claims and leading indicators. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJ2H +0.42% were recently up 53 points, or 0.4%, to 12,077. Futures for the S&P 500 index SP2H +0.55% rose 6.5 points, or 0.5%, to 1,242.80. Nasdaq 100 futures ND2H +0.41% gained 11.50 points, or 0.5%, to 2,250. Wall Street made a late recovery on Wednesday, though the Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.99% fell 1% after Oracle Corp. ORCL +0.43% shares slumped in the wake of downbeat results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.03% closed up 4.16 points, or 0.03%, to 12,107.74. 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 recoups Europe stocks were in rebound mode as investors reassessed the ECB funding move, with banks among the biggest gainers. The Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +1.12% 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. Eastern time. At 9:55 a.m. Eastern, the University of Michigan’s final December consumer-confidence index will be released. At 10 a.m. Eastern, 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. Corporates On the corporate front, shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY -2.95% could see pressure. Shares fell late Wednesday after the retailer just beat forecasts with fiscal third-quarter earnings. Shares of Tibco Software Inc. TIBX +4.00% could come into focus after fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell short of forecasts. American Greetings Corp. AM +5.55% 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 GC2G +0.13% fell $1.80 to $1,612.30. Crude oil for February delivery CL2G +0.47% 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 DXY -0.17% fell to 79.87 from 79.99 in North America late trade Wednesday. The index measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies. Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid.

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