NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Wall Street was still looking to advance Thursday, helped by strong jobless claims data and a rise in durable goods orders, despite weaker-than-expected GM earnings.

Wall Street was set for a strong advance at Thursday's open amid a brightening sign for GM, optimism about earnings, and comments by the Saudi oil minister ahead of next week's OPEC meeting.

U.S. stock futures were up, indicating a higher opening for stocks.

New orders for U.S.-made durable goods rose a larger-than-expected 1.3 percent in December and the previous month was revised higher, the government reported Thursday.

The Labor Department delivered strong employment data simultaneously Thursday, noting that while weekly claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week to 283,000, the more reliable four-week moving average fell to its lowest mark since July 2000.

Before the open, troubled No. 1 automaker General Motors (Research) posted itsfourth straight quarterly loss, with fourth-quarter earnings 10 times worse than forecasted on auto operation losses.

The world's largest automaker lost $1.2 billion, or $2.09 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2005, excluding special items. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call had forecast a loss of only 16 cents in the period, with the largest loss estimate being $1.66 a share.

GM shares fell 4.4 percent on the news in pre-market trading despite news that investor Kirk Kerkorian had repurchased 12 million GM shares he sold in December to lock in a tax loss on his earlier investment.

Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar (Research) and telecom AT&T (Research), formerly known as SBC, both reported improved earnings that beat forecasts. Caterpillar also gave guidance of better 2006 earnings and sales. Manufacturer Honeywell (Research) and telecom Verizon Communications (Research) both met forecasts.

Six of the 30 components of the Dow Jones industrial average were set to report earnings Thursday.

After the bell, software maker Microsoft (Research) is forecast to report slightly lower earnings for a period where results were hurt by shortages of its Xbox 360 video game player during the holiday shopping period. Shares of Microsoft were up almost one percent in heavy European trading early Thursday.

"I think what we're going to see here is the market respond to earnings and guidance. There's some big names coming out," said Peter Cardillo, chief market strategist with SW Bach. "Techs seem to be leading the way. The market is looking for Microsoft to come out with a good reports and surprise the street with guidance."

Cardillo said that investors are also likely watching geopolitical developments, including comments in Beijing Thursday that China does not support sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Oil prices gained as Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said he believed that oil markets were in balance and there was no need for either production cuts or additional production by OPEC.

The March light crude futures contract for NYMEX gained 14 cents to $65.99 a barrel in electronic trading, but that meant most of Wednesday's decline on a larger-than-expected inventory of fuel used for heating remained intact.

The March contract for Brent crude was up 27 cents to $64.50.

Major markets in Asia closed mostly higher Thursday as Japanese markets rebounded. After the close of Japanese markets Sony (Research) reported better than forecast earnings. Major European markets were higher in early trading, although gains were tempered after No. 1 cell phone maker Nokia (Research) reported disappointing results.

Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.49 percent from 4.47 percent late Wednesday. The dollar was little changed against the euro and slightly lower against the yen.

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