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 Late Wednesday, Oracle Corp. said its profit in the most recent quarter jumped 35 percent, well above analyst estimates, thanks to higher sales of licenses for new products.
Stock futures gained only modestly, though, as investors awaited the last investment bank of the week to report its fourth-quarter results. Bear Stearns Cos.
-- now facing a lawsuit by Barclays PLC, which lost money over the summer when two of Bear Stearns' hedge funds collapsed
-- is expected to post its first quarterly loss ever. Bear Stearns, like its Wall Street peers, has made bad investments in subprime mortgages.
Investors were also tentative ahead of economic data including the Commerce Department's final reading on third-quarter gross domestic product, and the Labor Department's weekly data on claims for unemployment benefits
-- a report that is closely watched, but often volatile from week to week.
Dow Jones industrial futures rose 11, or 0.08 percent, to 13,309, while Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 1.10, or 0.08 percent, to 1,466.00. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 5.25, or 0.26 percent, to 2,062.50.
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 On Wednesday, stocks finished mixed after a volatile trading session as Wall Street grappled with a ratings downgrade on a bond insurer, a $9.4 billion write-down at Morgan Stanley and persistent worries about the economy.
The dollar rose against other most major currencies Thursday, except the yen. Gold prices fell.
Light, sweet crude rose 46 cents to $91.70 a barrel in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.01 percent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.05 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.54 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.48 percent and France's CAC-40 rose 0.48 percent.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com/
[Associated Press; By MADLEN READ]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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