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 Investors will also receive readings on durable goods orders and weekly jobless figures as well as domestic crude oil inventories.
The handful of economic data arrive as those investors returning from the Christmas holiday are trying to assess whether initial lackluster readings on holiday shopping signal fatigue among consumers who have been battered by weakness in the housing market and higher prices for energy, food and other goods and services.
The Conference Board will issue its report on December consumer confidence at 10 a.m. EST, and economists surveyed by Thomson Financial predict confidence dipped this month to 86.5 from November's 87.3 reading.
The weekly reading on workers seeking unemployment benefits, while considered volatile, is nonetheless important for investors as employment is considered crucial to maintaining consumer spending, which represents about two-thirds of economic activity in the U.S.
Also, the Commerce Department is expected to report a gain Thursday in November durable goods orders, which include big-ticket items from commercial jetliners to home appliances.
While the week's holiday-shortened sessions have seen light volume, stocks have managed to post gains for the past four trading days. Modest gains came Wednesday as investors tried to reconcile their expectations with somewhat disappointing results from retailers.
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 Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 25, or 0.18 percent, to 13,618. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 1.20, or 0.08 percent, to 1,508.50, and Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 2.50, or 0.12 percent, to 2,162.00.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 4.23 percent from 4.29 percent late Wednesday. The dollar fell against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Light, sweet crude fell 37 cents to $95.60 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.57 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.25 percent, Germany's DAX index gained 0.76 percent, and France's CAC-40 added 0.60 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 TIM PARADIS]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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