NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open Thursday as the market weighed a decline in initial weekly jobless claims against disappointing results from

FedEx

(FDX) - Get Report

.

Futures for the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

were up by 5 points, or 28 points above fair value, at 11,420. Futures for the

S&P 500

were a half point higher, or 3 points above fair value, at 1,233, and

Nasdaq

futures were ahead by 3 points, or 4 points above fair value.

The Labor Department said initial weekly jobless claims fell to 420,000 from 423,000 in the week ended Dec. 11,

besting the slight increase to 425,000 claims from a previously-reported level of 421,000 that economists had been expecting.

U.S. stocks pared earlier gains after

FedEx

(FDX) - Get Report

missed second-quarter estimates with an adjusted profit of $1.16 per share on sales of $9.63 billion. Wall Street had forecast earnings of $1.31 per share on sales of $9.7 billion. The stock was down 2.7% at $89.87 ahead of Thursday's opening bell.

The Department of Commerce said housing starts rose 3.9% to 555,000 in November, from 534,000, previously, while November building permits fell 4% to 530,000, from 552,000. Wall Street had projected that housing starts would increase to 545,000, from an initially reported level of 519,000 and building permits were slated to climb to 560,000, from an originally reported level of 550,000, according to

Briefing.com.

The Department of Commerce said the current account balance, which measures U.S. international trade, widened to a deficit of $127.2 billion in the third-quarter, from a deficit of $123.2 billion in the second quarter. According to

Briefing.com

, economists had expected the current account deficit to widen to $125.3 billion, from an originally-reported deficit of $123.3 billion in the second quarter.

Stocks failed to hold gains Wednesday despite better-than-expected growth in industrial production, capacity utilization and New York-region manufacturing activity.

On Wednesday, the

Senate voted 81 to 19 in favor of President Obama's plan to extend the Bush-era tax cuts. The bill will be debated in the House on Thursday.

Overseas, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.3% while Japan's Nikkei added 0.01%. The FTSE in London was up by 0.2% and the DAX in Frankfurt was ahead by 0.04%.

At 10 a.m., a December read on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank will be released. According to

Briefing.com

, economists expect the Philly Fed index to fall to a reading of 13 from the prior month's level of 22.5.

Packaged food company

General Mills

(GIS) - Get Report

reported a second-quarter adjusted profit of 76 cents per share on sales that grew 1% to $4.07. Analysts had been expecting a profit of 78 cents per share on sales of $4.1 billion. The company also reaffirmed its full-year 2011 earnings guidance of $2.46 to $2.48 per share, which excludes the second-quarter tax benefit. The stock was down 1.3% to $35.90 in early trading.

BP

(BP) - Get Report

could see

penalties in excess of $21 billion if found completely liable for damages in a lawsuit regarding the Gulf of Mexico oil spill brought by the U.S. government on Wednesday. Shares listed on the

New York Stock Exchange

finished Wednesday's session 1.3% lower but were up by 0.2% to $43.96 during Thursday's premarket trading session.

In commodity markets, the January crude oil contract was down by 31 cents to trade at $88.31 a barrel. The February gold contract, the most actively traded gold future, traded $6.90 lower at $1,379.30 an ounce.

The dollar weakened against a basket of currencies with the dollar index down by 0.2%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note strengthened 10/32, diluting the yield to 3.499%.

.

--Written by Melinda Peer in New York

.

Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors and reporters from holding positions in any individual stocks.