Santa comes to market

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks looked poised to get back on track Thursday after a pair of economic reports came in as expected, another sign of the strength seen in the markets most of this month.

Stock futures, which predict the direction of stocks, were up in early trading. Stocks have been seeing the so-called end of the year Santa Claus rally with a number of record highs for the Dow Jones industrial average. But after trading in record high territory much of the day Wednesday, a late sell-off caused them to close slightly lower on the day.

The Commerce Department said its final reading on gross domestic product in the third quarter registered a 2 percent increase.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast that broad measure of the nation's economic activity grew at an annual 2.2 percent percent, unchanged from its previous reading.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose to 315,000 last week, exactly as predicted.

At 10 a.m. ET research firm The Conference Board will release its report on leading economic indicators, which economists are forecasting rose at 0.1 percent for November, down from a 0.2 percent rise in October. And the Philadelphia Federal Reserve will report on business conditions in its region in December at noon.

In corporate news, Nike (Charts) said Wednesday that quarterly net profit rose nearly 8 percent, beating Wall Street estimates. But shares slipped 1.5 percent in after-hours trading after gaining 3.7 percent before the bell on hopes of an even stronger report.

The creditors committee at Delta Air Lines gave management there a limited vote of confidence, saying it supported the airline's plan to emerge from bankruptcy as an independent carrier, although it added it would continue to consider potential alternatives. Rival US Airways Group (Charts) has made a hostile $8.4 billion bid for Delta.

Juniper Networks (Charts), which makes routers used for Internet and private computer networks, said Wednesday it expects to take a$900 million charge for stock options granted mostly between 1999 and 2003. Its shares slipped only 0.7 percent in after-hours trading on the news.

Jabil Circuit (Charts), an electronics contract manufacturer, said Wednesday its fiscal first-quarter revenue rose 34 percent to edge past forecasts. But its shares fell 3.6 percent in after-hours trading as it warned of lower than forecast revenue in the current period.

As expected U.S. regulators have approved Invega, a longer-lasting version of Johnson & Johnson's (Charts) blockbuster schizophrenia drug, Risperdal. But some analysts said they were concened because the approval required a warning label about an increased risk of a potentially fatal heart side-effect. Still, shares of the Dow component edged 0.9 percent higher in after-hours trading on the news.

Home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (Charts) said Wednesday its quarterly profit rose 6 percent, but that was 2 cents a share short of forecasts. Its shares lost almost 3 percent in after-hours trading.

Ohio-based regional bank Huntington Bancshares (Charts) announced after the bell that it had agreed to buy another Ohio-based regional bank, Sky Financial Group (Charts), for $3.6 billion in cash and stock, a premium of 24 percent over Sky's closing price. Sky shares rose 18.1 percent in after-hours trading.

Oil prices fell in early trading as a lifting of fog in the Houston area eased shipping problems that had taken prices higher on Wednesday. U.S. crude fell 45 cents to $63.27 a barrel in electronic trading. Brent crude futures lost 43 cents to $62.80 in London.

Treasury prices were slightly higher, taking the yield on the 10-year note to 4.58 percent from 4.59 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. The dollar was little changed against the euro and lower against the yen.

Stocks in Asia closed mostly lower, although Japan's Nikkei posted a gain. Stocks in Europe were mixed in early trading.