Stock futures were mixed early Thursday morning, ahead of retailers reporting their June sales and testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Although June retail sales may benefit from the government checks and the warmer weather, it may not be enough to give stocks the lift they need as investors all but anticipated a possibly good month for retailers. Update, following Dow Chemical announced deal, futures have turned much higher.

On Wednesday, stocks tanked, retreating further in to bear market territory as concerns over financials increased. Specifically, the solvency of mortgage companies Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE). Worries about techs and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) in particular also weighed on the market. The Dow industrials dropped 236 points, or 2.08%, the S&P 500 lost 29 points, or 2.28%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 59 points, 2.60%.

On the economic front, weekly jobless claims data will be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT. No recovery is expected in the labor market yet and the data will likely show increased claims.
Also, throughout the day, chain-stores will report June retail sales. Overall, June sales are expected to rise 2.4%, according to research firm Retail Metrics. That's a better rate than the 1.6% gain the companies registered for the first five months of this year, but lower than the average monthly gain of 2.6% last year and an average gain of 3.7% in 2006. A big chunk of this increase, though, is attributed to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).

Already warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) said same-store sales, including gasoline sales, grew 9% in June. That beat estimates of an 8.5% increase.