Wall Street was set to open higher on Thursday as weekly jobless claims fell, suggesting that the labor market was on solid footing even as the economy struggles to regain momentum.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 264,000 for the week ended May 9, while the 4-week unemployment average stayed near a 15-year low.
The market also got a boost as the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury US10YT=RR eased from Wednesday's five-month closing high of 2.28 percent, but analysts expect yields to remain high.
The recent jump in yields has made equities look more expensive in comparison to debt, keeping global share markets subdued.
"I think the economy is doing okay. It's not great, but it's not bad either," said David O'Malley, chief executive of Penn Mutual Asset Management, which oversees about $20 billion.
Penn expects the U.S. GDP to grow at about 2 percent in the second quarter. It grew 0.2 percent in the first quarter.
S&P 500 e-mini futures ESc1 were up 12 points and their fair value - a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract - indicated a higher open.
Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures 1YMc1 rose 107 points and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures NQc1 added 31 points.
Dow component Cisco (CSCO.O) shares fell 1.2 percent to $29 in premarket trading, after the company beat estimates but said spending by telecom customers was not going to improve in the near future.
Kohl's (KSS.N) shares fell 10 percent to $67 after the department store operator reported lower-than-expected quarterly same-store sales, hurt by colder-than-usual weather in February.
Puma Biotechnology (PBYI.N) tanked 17.7 percent to $172.54 after details from a late-stage trial of its experimental breast cancer pill showed that it improved disease-free survival for certain patients only by 2.3 months.
Integrated Silicon Solution (ISSI.O) rose 7.8 percent to $20.20 after Cypress Semiconductor (CY.O) said it would buy the chipmaker for $19.75 per share in cash. Cypress was up 2.4 percent at $12.95.
Shake Shack (SHAK.N) rose 9.3 percent to $74.78 after the hamburger chain raised its full-year revenue forecast.
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