Wall Street stocks looked set to pause their upward climb Thursday as the oil rally took a breather and a European Central Bank press conference loomed.
The bank left key interest rates unchanged for the eurozone. On the economic front in the U.S., weekly jobless claims and a regional manufacturing survey are ahead. General Motors Inc. shares rose in premarket after results, but that failed to inspire stock futures.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12 points to 18,049, while S&P 500 futures added 1.25 points to 2,099.25. Nasdaq-100 futures rose 1 point to 4,537.
On Wednesday the S&P 500 marked its best close since Dec. 1, and the Dow industrials ended at the highest levels since late July. Those gains came as oil prices also closed at the highest levels of 2016. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for June was trading not far from that level on Thursday, at around $44.11 a barrel.