Stocks seen pulling back at open

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were poised to fall early Thursday amid growing anxiety about the economic recovery.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were lower, but pulled partway out of their trough following a jobless claims report that was close to expectations and a durable goods report that was better than expected.

Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

U.S. stocks ended mixed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve expressed a wary outlook for economic growth. A gloomy housing report also weighed on investors.

Markets are likely to remain rattled until the economy shows viable signs of improvement, said Dan Cook, senior market analyst at IG Markets.

"The economy is still fragile, so there's no long term conviction in the market," he said. "There's nothing to support or keep driving a long-term rally, so we're likely to see choppy markets today, tomorrow and throughout the rest of the summer."

Economy: A report from the Department of Labor showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell to 457,000 in the week ended June 21.

This was slightly lower that the 460,000 claims that were expected. It was also significantly lower than the 476,000 claims for the prior week, which were revised up from the original figure of 472,000.

Continuing claims, a measure of Americans who have been receiving benefits for a week or more, dropped to 4,548,000, which was lower than the 4,580,000 that were expected and down from the 4,571,000 that were reported for last week.

The Commerce Department reported that orders for durable goods were down 1.1% in May, which was better than expected. Orders were expected to have fallen 1.3% after rising 2.8% in April, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

Orders excluding transportation rose 0.9%, which was less than the expected rise of 1.3%.

Fed:

While the Fed said it didn't expect the U.S. economy to fall back into recession, it warned that financial conditions have become less supportive for growth and that the recovery is "likely to be moderate for a time."

Companies: Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) on Wednesday won a key copyright infringement battle with Viacom (VIA). A federal court ruled that Google's YouTube is not liable for its users' copyright violations.

Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) fans are lining up to buy the hotly-anticipated iPhone 4, which is being released at Apple stores and other retailers, including Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), RadioShack (RSH, Fortune 500) and Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500), on Thursday.

Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) reports quarterly results after the market close. The software maker is expected to report earnings of 54 cents per share, up 17% from a year earlier, and revenue of $9.5 billion, up 38% from the prior year.

Investors in financial services issues will be keeping an eye on developments in Washington as House and Senate negotiators attempt to complete work on a Wall Street reform bill.

World markets: European stocks were broadly lower in morning trading. The FTSE 100 in Britain fell 0.7%, Germany's DAX lost 0.7% and the CAC 40 in France sank 1.5%.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei index scratched out a slight gain to finish the session in positive territory. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1%.

Dollar and commodities: The dollar was down versus the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

U.S. light crude oil for August delivery fell 28 cents to $76.07 a barrel.

COMEX gold's August contract fell $2.40 to $1,232.40 per ounce.

Bonds: Treasury prices rose, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down to 3.09% from 3.11% on Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.