NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks look set to start on the up side Thursday as strong durable goods orders for November appeared to overshadow soft consumer spending for the month.
Stock futures pointed to a small rise in opening trading.
Durable goods orders jumped 1.6 percent in November, well above forecasts, and after a revised 0.9 percent drop in October.
Consumers were keeping a closer eye on their spending as they moved into the holiday shopping season. The Commerce Department said personal spending rose a modest 0.2 percent in November, compared to a revised 0.8 percent gain in October.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a 0.3 percent rise.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose by a slightly greater-than-expected 17,000 last week.
Major Asian markets were mixed Thursday, although Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. Major European markets were also mixed in early trading.
U.S. stocks extended recent gains Wednesday, with blue chips building on the 3-1/2 year closing highs hit Tuesday.
Oil fell further early trading Thursday, following at 3 percent drop Wednesday after a government report showed an unexpected increase in fuel supplies.
There was also news out of Russia that the state-run oil company Rosneft bought the assets of bankrupt private oil company Yukos, giving the government control of about 10 percent of all crude production.
U.S. crude for February delivery fell 34 cents to $43.90 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent oil futures lost 19 cents to $40.45 a barrel in London.
The dollar fell further against the euro and the yen, while Treasury bond prices fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year note up to 4.22 percent from 4.19 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
A revised reading for consumer confidence in December from the University of Michigan is due shortly after the market opens. Economists forecast the school's confidence index stayed at 95.7 percent, unchanged from its preliminary reading for the month.
And new home sales are forecast to have slipped to an annual rate of 1.2 million for November from 1.226 million in October. A report last week showing a bigger-than-expected drop in housing starts will bring new attention to Thursday's report for signs of weakness in a very strong real estate market.
In corporate news, the Wall Street Journal reported that the federal regulator overseeing Fannie Mae (Research) is investigating the severance packages and bonuses of the CEO and CFO who stepped down Wednesday after the SEC criticized the embattled mortgage financing firm's accounting practices.
FedEx (Research) was hit by a jury verdict that found the package delivery company retaliated against an employee who tried to promote two minority workers. It was ordered to pay $1.5 million in damages. The company intends to appeal.
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