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 Belgian brewer InBev SA, whose brands include Beck's and Stella Artois, offered late Wednesday to buy the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other brands for $65 per share. Shares of Anheuser-Busch rose 8 percent in premarket trading.
Investors are also waiting for economic reports including data released at 8:30 a.m. EDT from the Labor Department on jobless claims. The government is expected to show that initial claims filed for unemployment benefits rose last week after an unexpected drop in the prior period.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department will at the same time release a report on retail sales that will show how much higher food and gas prices are affecting consumers' overall spending. Wall Street is expecting a slight gain in May retail sales, after a decline in April due mainly to poor auto sales.
Oil prices fell sharply, dropping $3.60 to $132.78 a barrel in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices spiked on Wednesday after an energy report showed inventories fell last week, and fed into fear about supply.
Ahead of Thursday's opening, Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 66 at 12,165. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 8.30, or 0.61 percent, to 1,344.10, while the Nasdaq-100 index futures rose 11.00, or 0.56 percent, to 1,937.80.
The stock market finished sharply lower on Wednesday as oil prices rebounded, fanning concerns that inflation will further pinch consumers and lead central banks to raise interest rates. The Dow fell almost 206 points.
Bond prices fell ahead of the market's open. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was at 4.10 percent, up from 4.08 percent on Wednesday.
The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.
Citigroup Inc. is closing a hedge fund co-founded by current chief executive Vikram Pandit, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. Pandit joined Citi after selling Old Lane Partners to the bank in July 2007.
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 Embattled mortgage lender Thornburg Mortgage posted a $3.31 billion loss for the first quarter, and said loan delinquencies are likely to continue to increase "modestly" for the rest of the year. Thornburg specializes in larger mortgages, known as "jumbo loans," which total more than $417,000.
Borders Group Inc. shares could move higher after one of its biggest shareholders, hedge fund manager William Ackerman, said the bookseller should consider approaching online retailer Amazon.com Inc. about a possible acquisition. Ackerman is co-founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, and owns 30 percent of Borders.
Shares of Staples Inc. will be in focus after the office supply giant succeeded in its bid to buy Dutch office supply distributor Corporate Express NV for about $2.7 billion.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei 225 average closed 2.08 percent higher. In midday trading, Britain's FTSE 100 index added 0.70 percent, Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.59 percent, and the French CAC-40 index rose 0.37 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 JOE BEL BRUNO]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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