Stocks: Waiting for Greece's next move

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were headed for a fourth day of gains Thursday, as investors continued to cheer Greece's steps toward securing an aid package and awaited an implementation vote.

A weekly report on jobless claims, which showed that fewer Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, could help set the tone.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were slightly higher ahead of the opening bell. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

U.S. stocks closed higher for a third day Wednesday, as bank shares boosted the broader market, following Bank of America's (BAC, Fortune 500) $8.5 billion settlement over mortgage securities claims.

Markets also welcomed Greece's approval of austerity measures Wednesday, which aim to keep the country from defaulting. A second vote on the implementation of these measures is scheduled for Thursday morning, with investors widely expecting it to pass.

But as anti-government protests only worsen, some worry that Greece's problems are far from over.

"It's one thing to get [the measures] passed, but it's another thing trying to get the population behind them," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets. "We might see a summer of unrest in Greece, so markets may be choppy but ultimately directionless."

Longer-term, it will be hard for markets to move significantly higher with QE2 ending Thursday and concerns about global economic growth remaining.

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"Markets are still looking oversold, so we could see them go slightly higher, but I don't think we should expect spectacular gains with the lack of QE2," said Jones. "There are also broader concerns about the economic recovery -- after being in a recovery for a couple years, have we reached a pause?"

Economy: The Labor Department reported that weekly jobless claims edged down by 1,000 to 428,000 -- down from 429,000 in the previous month. But that was still higher than expected. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast claims to fall 9,000 to 420,000.

Also out Thursday is the Chicago purchasing managers' index at 9:45 a.m. ET, which is expected to slip to 54 for June.

Companies: Shares of eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500), which owns PayPal, jumped more than 4% in premarket trading, a day after the Federal Reserve imposed caps ondebit card swipe fees that weren't as high as expected.

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Shares of Visa (V, Fortune 500) and MasterCard (MA, Fortune 500) were also edging higher in premarket trading.

Apollo Group (APOL, Fortune 500), the parent company of the University of Phoenix, reports after the closing bell on Thursday.

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Other names reporting include Constellation Brands (STZ) and dining chain owner Darden Restaurants (DRI, Fortune 500).

World markets: European stocks were slightly higher in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.8%, the DAX in Germany added 0.1% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.4%.

Asian markets ended the session higher. The Shanghai Composite jumped 1.2%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.5% and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro and the Japanese yen, but rose versus the British pound.

Oil for August delivery slipped 2 cents to $94.75 a barrel.

Gold futures for August delivery was little changed at $1,510.40 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged higher, pushing the yield down to 3.09% from 3.11% late Wednesday.