Weekly Jobless Claims, Housing Starts Data, and the Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity report are the highlights on Thursday. The developments in Washington as well as the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine might influence investor sentiments.
Asian shares finished mostly higher, while European shares are trading lower.
Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open higher.
As of 7.40 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 98.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were gaining 17.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 61.00 points.
The U.S. major averages eventually ended Wednesday's session mixed. The Dow dipped 44.77 points or 0.2 percent to 30,154.54, the Nasdaq climbed 63.13 points or 0.5 percent to 12,658.19 and the S&P 500 rose 6.55 points or 0.2 percent to 3,701.17.
On the economic front, the Housing Starts and Permits for November will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 1.53 million, while it was at 1.53 million in the prior week.
The Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The Consensus is for 806K, while it grew 853K in the previous week.
The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for December will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 21.2, while it was up 26.3 in November.
The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week will be revealed at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was down 91 bcf.
Two-year Floating Rate Notes or FRN, the five-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities or TIPS announcement, and the twenty-year Treasury Bond announcement will be issued at 11.00 am ET.
The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be published at 4.30 pm ET. The prior-year level was $7.243 trillion.
The Fed Money Supply for the week will be issued at 4.30 pm ET. The M2 weekly change was negative $123.2 billion.
Asian shares ended Thursday's session mostly higher. Chinese shares rose amid optimism over swift economic recovery. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index rallied 37.89 points, or 1.13 percent, to 3,404.87, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended up 218.09 points, or 0.82 percent, at 26,678.38.
Japanese shares ended slightly higher. The Nikkei average reversed an early slide to end up 49.27 points, or 0.18 percent, at 26,806.67, while the broader Topix index closed 0.32 percent higher at 1,792.58.
Australian markets rallied. The jobless rate dropped last month to 6.8 percent from 7.0 percent. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 climbed 77.50 points, or 1.16 percent, to 6,756.70, while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 83.40 points, or 1.21 percent, at 7,000.10.
European shares are trading mostly lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the German DAX is gaining 101.27 points or 0.75 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is adding 0.25 points or 0.00 percent.
The Swiss Market Index is progressing 84.55 points or 0.81 percent.
The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is up 0.58 percent.
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