Before the bell: Stock futures mixed after Cisco, ahead of retail, jobless data

Meanwhile, retailers started reporting July same-store sales with Costco (NASDAQ: COST) posting a bigger-than-expected 7 percent fall hurt mainly by a strong U.S. dollar. Analysts, on average, were expecting a fall of 6.7 percent in July same-store sales, according to Thomson Reuters.

At 8:30 a.m., weekly initial jobless claims will be released and investors will watch it closely ahead of the monthly nonfarm payroll data due for release tomorrow. Already, Monster Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ: MNST) released its monthly gauge of online labor demand in the United States, which while dropped 27 percent from last year, only dropped 3 points June, suggesting some stabilization in the jobs market, a private research group said on Thursday.

Overseas, Asian stocks finished higher Thursday and European stocks advanced ahead of rate decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of England on upbeat corporate results. So far, the BoE kept interest rates the same, and the ECB will likely do the same. But the BoE also increased its bond purchase program by 50 billion pounds ($84 billion), saying the U.K.'s economic recession is deeper than policy makers expected. On the other side, German factory orders posted their biggest increase in two years in June, the latest sign that Europe's largest economy is emerging from recession.