U.S. equity futures are trading mixed ahead of the Thursday trading session on Wall Street.
The major futures indexes suggest a small rise in Dow ahead of the release of jobless claims data and another measure of inflation.
The Labor Department is expecting to release new claims on unemployment benefits for another week. That's down slightly from 385,000 the previous week. Continuing claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting benefits, are anticipated to drop by 50,000 to 2.88 million, which would mark a new pandemic low.
At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will report wholesale inflation data for July. Headline producer prices are projected to increase 0.6% month-over-month according to Refinitiv forecasts, trailing June's 1% increase.
Year-over-year, prices paid by wholesalers are expected to be increased 7.3%, the same as June's increase which marked a series high.
Factoring out volatile food and energy costs, core producer prices are projected to become 0.5% higher in July, half of the June increase which is the biggest monthly increase in more than a decade. Analysts project a gain of 5.6% in July year-over-year.
In Asia, China's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.7% and Japan's Shanghai Composite rose 0.3%.
Worries in China remained about the recent regulatory crackdown in the region. Analysts said the next target appeared to be the online insurance industry.
On Wall Street on Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed past the record highs they set a day earlier.
After a trading up start to the week, stocks have moved higher in the back of strong earnings and better than expected economic data.
Traders got a dose of decent economic news Wednesday when the Labor Department said that consumer prices rose 0.5% from June to July, down from the previous monthly increase of 0.9%. The consumer price has increased by nearly 5.4% year over year.
The S&P 500 index rose 10.95 points to 4,447. 70. The Dow gained 220.30 points, or 0.6%, to 35,484. 97. Both indexes set highs for the old and new Friday night times.
Weakness in some stocks helped pull the Nasdaq Composite slightly lower. It fell 22.95 points, or 0.2%, to 14,765 points. 14
Weight loss provider WW International plunged 24.6% after reporting disappointing second quarter financial results, while hamburger chain Wendy's rose 3.7% after raising its profit forecast for the year and increasing its dividend.
According to an email obtained by The Associated Press, the New York Stock Exchange will require that anyone entering its trading floor show proof they've been vaccinated against COVID - 19 on Sept. 13.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 8 cents to $69.16 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 7 cents to $71.37 a barrel.