Wall Street nudging higher

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were set for a slightly higher start Thursday, as invesetors show little reaction to reports on jobless claims and gross domestic product.

At 8:56 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq 100 and Standard & Poor's 500 futures were a shade higher.

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

"We're in the face of a market that seems to be ignoring good news," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co., noting that earlier this week the markets "shrugged off" positive reports on new and existing home sales, as well as durable goods orders.

"I think we're running out of steam here," he said. "I think that's been reflected in overall volume and the market news."

U.S. stocks nudged higher Wednesday after upbeat reports on housing and durables goods. The Dow advanced just four points, but that was its seventh consecutive session of gains. The Dow closed at its highest point since November. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite ended at their highest levels since October.

Economy: The Labor Department released its weekly report on jobless claims, showing a modest decline to 570,000 claims in the week ended Aug. 22. This is slightly higher than the 565,000 claims that were projected by a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. It is lower than the revised tally of 580,000 for the prior week.

The Commerce Department provided a revised reading on second-quarter gross domestic product that showed a 1% decline, which is unchanged from the prior reading. This reading is not as bad as the expected 1.5% decline, according to a consensus of economist forecast from Briefing.com. This is nowhere near as sharp as the 6.4% decline reported in the first quarter.

Companies: Airplane manufacturer Boeing (BA, Fortune 500) said it would take a non-cash charge of $2.5 billion, or $2.21 per share, in the third quarter, related to its initial flight-test models of the 787 Dreamliner. The company said it expects the first commercial flight to occur at the end of 2009.

Stocks to watch also includes luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL) posted quarterly financial results that were worse than expected. Toll reported a net loss of $472 million, or $2.93 per share, compared to a net loss of $29 million, or 18 cents, a year ago. Toll was expected to have lost $1.79 per share after losing 18 cents one year earlier.

Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) is cutting the price of its high-end Xbox 360 model by $100 to match the price of rival Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 3.

World markets: In Asia, stocks slipped, with Japan's Nikkei shedding about 1.6%. Stocks in Europe were lower in midday trading.

Money and oil: The dollar rose against the euro and the yen, but slipped versus the British pound. The price of oil fell 53 cents to $70.90 a barrel.

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