U.S. AVERAGES

U.S. stocks are poised to trade higher at the open Thursday as market awaits data on July retail sales, weekly jobless claims and June business inventories.

Treasury prices were unchanged, with the 10-year yield holding at 4.39%. The dollar lost ground against on the euro and the yen.

U.S. crude oil hit a record high at $65.30 a barrel on Thursday, as tightening U.S. gasoline supplies added to concerns about refinery difficulties.

Oil companies Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp. are expected to put on further gains, helped by the rise in oil.

Whirlpool Corp. made an aggressive move to secure the deal to acquire rival Maytag Corp. by boosting its offer for a third time to $1.79 billion, or $21 a share. Including the assumption of $977 million of Maytag debt, the entire deal was valued at $2.7 billion.

Yahoo! (YHOO: chart) said Thursday morning that it has agreed to take a 40% economic interest in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba.com. Yahoo! said it would pay $1 billion in cash and add its China business to that of Alibaba, with the 2 firms working together to increase the Yahoo! brand in China. Yahoo! revealed that the deal gives it 35% of Alibaba's voting rights.

Target (TGT: chart) is slated to release its quarterly results before the start of trading Thursday. Analysts expect the company to have earned 59 cents per share in the quarter vs. 39 per share last year.

Hospira (HSP: chart) is also due to report before the opening bell, while Dell (DELL: chart) is expected to post its earnings after the market close.

ECONOMIC NEWS

The Commerce Department is expected to release the retail sales report for July at 8:30 a.m. Economists expect a 2.2% jump in total retail sales, but for non-auto sales to only grow by 0.6%.

The Labor Department is scheduled to release jobless claims data for the week ended Aug. 6 at 8:30 a.m. Economists expect jobless claims to have climbed by 3,000 to a level of 315,000 in the week.

The Commerce Department is due to release the June report on total business inventories at 10 a.m. Economists expect another minimal 0.1% increase.

INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS

Asian-Pacific markets closed broadly in the positive territory with the Nikkei hitting a top trading level in four years of 1.37% on optimism for the Japanese economy and reduced political concerns. The banking stocks led the rally, followed by brokerages, real estates and oil issues as ongoing concerns over conflicts in the Middle East lifted oil to a new intraday record of $65 a barrel. In the regional markets, Shanghai Composite climbed 1.6% and South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.7%. The dollar traded at 110.34 yen in early Tokyo trading.

European stocks traded lower at mid-day, erasing recent gains on record-high crude-oil prices of over $65 a barrel, corporate news and German economic data, showing no improvement of GDP figures from the prior quarter. The German DAX 30 declined 0.4%, the French CAC fell 0.3%, while London’s FTSE decreased 0.1% only as oil majors benefited from rising prices. The euro and the pound added 0.2% to trade at $1.2410 and $1.8002 respectively.

ENERGY, METALS AND CURRENCIES MARKETS

Oil prices fell below $65 a barrel after hitting a new intraday high of $65.30 on gasoline supply fears. Light, sweet crude was down 13 cents to $64.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYME, and Brent crude for September delivery eased 1 cent to $63.98 on London's International Petroleum Exchange.

Gold futures advanced as the U.S. dollar lost ground against other major currencies. Gold in London traded at $437.80 per troy ounce, up from $436.10.Gold was up $2.70 in Hong Kong to close at $438.35. Silver opened in London at $6.98, down vs. $7.04 Wednesday.

The U.S. dollar slipped against its major counterparts on European morning trading. The euro was quoted at $1.2415, up from $1.2355. The British pound gained against the greenback and traded at $1.8031, up from $1.7930. The Japanese yen stood at 110.27, down from 110.56.

EARNINGS NEWS