US Stock Futures Up As Investors Await Jobless Claims, Retail Sales Data

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting data on jobless claims and sales data from retailers. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 28 points to 12,302.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index rose 4.10 points to 1,316.20. Nasdaq 100 futures surged 10.00 points to 2,329.50. US stocks closed lower on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average dipping 2.22% to 12,290.14, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropping 2.28% to 1,314.55 and the NASDAQ composite index declining 2.33% to 2,769.19. The recent weekly jobless claims figures and figures on Q1 productivity and labor costs will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The nonfarm payroll figures for May will be released on Friday. Costco Wholesale Corp COST reported a 13% rise in its May comparable-store sales. However, analysts expected same-store sales to rise 11.2% for the month. VeriFone Systems Inc PAY is estimated to post its FQ2 EPS at $0.43 on revenue of $285.36 million. United Natural Foods Inc UNFI is estimated to report its Q3 EPS at $0.48 on revenue of $1.17 billion. Diamond Foods Inc DMND is estimated to report its FQ3 earnings at $0.48 on revenue of $216.63 million. UTi Worldwide Inc UTIW is projected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.13 on revenue of $1.14 billion. SAIC Inc SAI is projected to report its Q1 EPS at $0.33 on revenue of $2.71 billion. Zumiez Inc ZUMZ reported a 7.8% rise in its May same-store sales. However, analysts were expecting same-store sales to increase 7.5%. Hot Topic Inc HOTT reported a 0.4% rise in its May same-store sales. However, analysts had expected an increase of 1.4%. Google Inc GOOG reported that the Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including top US government officials had been hijacked. Google revealed the suspected source of a hacking attack on Gmail accounts: users originating in China. Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dipping 1.69%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 2.20% and China's Shanghai Composite declining 1.40%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.58% and India's Sensex dropped 0.61%. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.79%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.93%. Moody's Investors Service downgraded Greece from “B1” to “Caa1.” The dollar dropped versus the euro. The dollar index fell 0.4% to 74.58. Light crude traded around $100 a barrel. However, silver for July delivery fell $0.53 to $37.16 an ounce. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.