NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil prices off their recent record highs could give a lift to U.S. stocks at Thursday's open as investors brace for the July employment report.

Early Thursday , Nasdaq and S&P futures were slightly higher.

Even though oil prices were above Wednesday's settlement, they were still about a dollar below the record highs set about 24 hours earlier. U.S. crude futures rose 40 cents to $43.23 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent oil futures gained 55 cents to $40.25 a barrel in London.

Oil prices retreated Wednesday after a decision by Russian authorities to let Yukos, the nation's leading exporter, use its bank accounts to fund operations, lessening fears of disruption to oil output. Also OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the oil cartel is prepared to use the group's spare production capacity if needed to stabilize prices.

Stocks were little changed Wednesday as oil prices seesawed and investors began the vigil for Friday's July employment report. The Dow Jones industrial average was 6 points higher, while the Nasdaq composite index was 4 points lower.

Asian-Pacific stocks ended higher, with Tokyo's Nikkei up 0.5 percent. European markets rose in morning trading. (Check the latest on world markets)

Treasury prices rose in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.41 percent from 4.42 percent late Wednesday. The dollar eased against the yen and euro. Gold inched higher.

Initial jobless claims fell to 336,000 in the latest week, less than the 340,000 expected by economists surveyed by Briefing.com and below the 347,000 in the previous week.

The report comes a day before the July jobs report, which is expected to show an increase in payrolls of 243,000 and an unemployment rate holding at 5.6 percent.

Thursday will also bring July sales reports from the nation's major retail chains, including sales at stores open at least a year, a closely watched retail measure known as same-store sales.

One of the first to report results, household goods retailer Pier One (PIR: Research, Estimates), not only reported a 1.3 percent decline in July same-store sales, but warned that August same-store sales are now expected to fall between 4 and 8 percent. It also warned that fiscal second quarter earnings would be between 10 and 12 cents a share, below the consensus analyst forecast of 13 cents a share.

Earnings reports are due before the market open from foodmaker Sara Lee (SLE: Research, Estimates), power producer Calpine (CPN: Research, Estimates) and insurance broker Aon (AON: Research, Estimates). After the market close telecom MCI (MCIP: Research, Estimates) is expected to report results of its first quarter since emerging from bankruptcy court protections. Pixar Animation Studios (PIXR: Research, Estimates) is also set to report results.

The pilots union at Delta Air Lines (DAL: Research, Estimates) late Wednesday criticized management's demands for $1 billion in annual wage cuts, saying it wasn't justified by the No. 3 airline's financial situation, and said it had instead offered concessions worth between $655 million and $705 million annually. Management has warned it could be forced to file for bankruptcy court protections without significant labor cost savings.

Telecom AT&T (T: Research, Estimates) said in an Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that it is considering writing off the value of its $43.8 billion in assets, due to its announcement last month that it would retreat from competing for new residential customers and focus on business customers almost exclusively.