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 * Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday, retracing recent gains
along with energy shares, while Yellen's comments added to investor
caution.
* Stocks have rallied since the Fed signaled last week that a
December rate hike was still on the table, yet the ongoing debate
over when the central bank will move has added to investor
uncertainty.
* Yellen's comments sent the dollar <.DXY> to a three-month high
against a basket of major currencies on Thursday.
* Higher rates increase borrowing costs for companies, while a rise
in the dollar hurts their income from overseas markets.
* Data due on Thursday will likely show that unemployment benefits
claims increased by 2,000 to 262,000 last week. The report, due at
8:30 a.m. ET, comes ahead of Friday's more comprehensive nonfarm
monthly payrolls data.
* A raft of data on Wednesday, including a report showing U.S.
private employers maintained a steady pace of hiring in October,
suggested the economy was strong enough to support ending an era of
near-zero interest rates.
* Facebook's shares <FB.O> rose 4.3 percent to $108.35 premarket,
set to open at a record high, after the company's quarterly results
beat estimates.
* Qualcomm fell 6.4 percent to $56.40 after a lower-than-expected
profit forecast for the first quarter.
* HomeAway surged 22 percent to $39 after Expedia said it would buy
the vacation rental site for $3.9 billion. Expedia was up 4.6
percent at $140.29.
* Whole Foods fell 5.7 percent to $29 after reporting a surprise
drop in quarterly same-store sales.
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* A host of Fed policymakers are scheduled to speak on Thursday,
including Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer, New York Fed President
William Dudley, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Atlanta Fed
President Dennis Lockhart.
* News Corp, Nvidia, Kraft Heinz <KHC.O> and Disney are scheduled to
report results after the close.
Futures snapshot at 7:15 a.m. ET:
* S&P 500 e-minis were up 8 points, or 0.38 percent, with 117,466
contracts traded.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 14.5 points, or 0.31 percent, on
volume of 17,908 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were up 66 points, or 0.37 percent, with 13,757
contracts changing hands.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio
D'Souza)
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