NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks were looking for a positive start Thursday after the biggest one-month drop in consumer prices since the late 1940's.

U.S. stock futures turned higher, indicating a positive opening for stocks.

A huge drop in gasoline prices set up the biggest one-month decline in the Consumer Price Index since July 1949, a 0.6 percent tumble compared with a 0.2 percent gain in October.

But so-called "core CPI," which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent, the same gain as seen in October.

Treasury prices turned lower, with the yield on the 10-year note rising to 4.47 percent from 4.45 percent late Wednesday. The dollar lost ground against the euro and the yen, as reports suggested the Bank of Japan is ready to end its near-zero interest rate policy when it concludes a two-day meeting Friday.

Oil prices were mixed the day after a mixed inventory report sent futures below the $61 a barrel mark.

The January light crude futures contract for NYMEX lost 29 cents to $60.56 a barrel in electronic trading, while the January contract for Brent crude was up 41 cents to $60.01.

Major markets in Asia closed mostly higher Thursday, although Japan's Nikkei lost ground on the stronger yen. Major European markets were slightly lower in early trading.

In corporate news, Dow component Altria (Research) is awaiting a key decision due Thursday morning from the Illinois Supreme Court, which is considering a $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris USA. The No. 1 U.S. cigarette maker is appealing the decision that found it guilty of fooling smokers into thinking "light" cigarettes were healthier than regular cigarettes.

Amgen (Research), the world's largest biotechnology company, announced after hours Wednesday that it had agreed to buy Abgenix (Research) for about $2.2 billion in cash, about a 54 percent premium from its closing price. Shares of Amgen edged higher in after-hours trading as Abgenix shares soared to near the $22.50 a share purchase price.

Also after the bell Wednesday Microsoft (Research) said it would raise its quarterly dividend 12.5 percent, as the No. 1 software provider reiterated confidence in its growth prospects.

Google (Research) announced it is introducing a music search feature, although unlike some competitors the search engine has no plans to create a music library of its own.

Thursday after the close, business software provider Oracle (Research) set to report results.

For a more detailed look at the markets before the open, click here.