Futures on the Dow hit a record high on Thursday ahead of earnings reports from companies including Walt Disney and data expected to show that a jobs market recovery was on track.
The Labor Department's report - due at 0830 a.m. ET - was likely to show the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell further in the week ended Aug. 7.
Focus will also be on U.S. producer prices data after soft inflation figures for July on Wednesday assuaged fears of sooner-than-expected policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.
The data yesterday was encouraging but any signs there that it was a blip could replace all of yesterday's good feeling and unwind it with anxiety once again, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA Europe.
The benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded record closing highs on Wednesday, helped by a rally in economy-linked value stocks following the passage of a large infrastructure bill.
Shares of steelmaker Caterpillar Inc and equipment maker Nucor Corp Inked higher in premarket trading, building on gains made on expectations of future infrastructure projects.
ET, Dow e-minis were up 46 points or 0.13%; S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.75 points, or 0.06%; Nasdaq 100 e-mins were up 9.5 points or 0.06%.
In earnings-related moves, Baidu Inc's U.S. shares dropped 2.1% even after it beat expectations for quarterly revenue, buoyed by a rebound in advertising sales and higher demand for its artificial intelligence and cloud products.
EBay Inc slipped 1.7% after forecasting third-quarter revenue lower analyst estimates, signaling that reseting economies and vaccine rollouts could be putting an end to the pandemic-led shopping boom.
Earnings report from Walt Disney Co, home rental firm Airbnb Inc and food-delivery company DoorDash Inc are due later in the day.
DoorDash was up 2.3% on a report that the company held talks to buy food delivery firm Instacart for a likely price of between $40 billion and $50 billion.
The rate sensitive lenders JPMorgan Chase Co, Wells Fargo Co, Bank of America Corp and Goldman Sachs Group Inc edged higher before the opening bell.