U.S. stock index futures were higher on Thursday eyed the release of several pieces of data and earnings and kept an eye on rising oil prices.
Brent crude traded at $50.35 a barrel, up 1.2 percent, while U.S. crude was at $50.08, up 1 percent.
The Commerce Department said on Thursday orders for durable goods jumped 3.4 percent last month, Reuters said. However, non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, fell 0.8 percent for a third-straight month after an upwardly revised 0.1 percent drop the prior month.
Initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 268,000 for the week ended May 21.
Treasury yields edged off session lows, with the 2-year yield last around 0.89 percent. The U.S. dollar index traded mildly lower, with the euro near $1.117 and the yen around 110.05 yen against the greenback.
Pending home sales are due to come out at 10:00 a.m. ET.
St. Louis Fed president James Bullard said in a speech Thursday U.S. labor markets are relatively tight and may put upward pressure on inflation, adding there was a divergence between the financial market's expectations for U.S. interest rate rises and the median projections among Fed policymakers.
The chances for a June rate hike are about 32 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
Fed governor Jerome Powell will speak in Washington D.C. at 12:15 p.m. ET.
On the earnings front, Dollar Tree, Abercrombie & Fitch and Chico's FAS are set to report before the bell. GameStop and Splunk are set to report after the bell.
Read More Early movers: SHLD, TWX, ANF, DLTR, SAFM, HPQ, COST, LGF & more
In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up just 0.02 percent on Thursday. Asian markets traded mostly flat as well, with Japan'sNikkei closed 0.09 percent higher on Thursday. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed 0.27 percent higher.
—Reuters contributed to this report.