Stocks poised for a flat open

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were set for a nearly flat open Thursday as investors focused on the nation's employment picture.

At 9:05 a.m. ET, Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 futures were slightly higher and Nasdaq 100 futures were slightly lower.

Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins in New York.

U.S. stocks fell Wednesday, breaking a four-day rally, pressured by mixed readings on the economy and comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the economic recovery would be slow.

Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Avalon Partners, said trading will be dominated by the jobless claims report as well as "cautious market anticipation of tomorrow's employment report," referring to the monthly data on payroll losses and unemployment rate due Friday.

"I think that the labor market is probably in the process of stabilizing," said Cardillo.

Economy: The Labor Department's report on jobless claims showed a slight slip to 621,000 in the week ended May 30 from the revised 625,000 in the prior week. The figure was close to the 620,000 projected by a consensus of economists compiled by Briefing.com.

Also, continuing claims declined for the first time since January.

A revised reading on productivity showed an increase of 1.6% for the first quarter, compared to an initial reading of a 0.8% increase. This was higher than the revised increase of 1.2% expected by Briefing.com consensus.

Investors will look to May chain-store sales, which are due out Thursday, for direction.

Companies: Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), the world's largest retailer, said it plans to hire more than 22,000 people this year.

The first wave of reviews for Palm's (PALM) new smartphone, the Pre, were mostly positive. Palm is positioning the Pre as a rival to Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone and Research in Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry.

World markets: Asian stocks finished the session lower. In Europe, markets were modestly higher after the Bank of England announced it would leave its key lending rate unchanged at 0.5%, and after the European Central Bank kept its rate at 1%.

Oil and money: The price of oil jumped $1.58 a barrel to $67.70. The dollar rose against major international currencies, including the yen, the euro and the British pound.