Stock futures are higher
Near 8:41 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up 18 points, S&P 500 futures were up one point, and Nasdaq futures were up 9 points.
Everyone had been waiting for the latest retail sales report, which beat expectations and showed the biggest gain in 14 months.
Retail sales rose 1.2% in May and rose 1% when excluding auto sales. Excluding gas and auto sales, retail sales rose 0.7% in May, better than expected.
In other economic data, initial jobless claims rose to 279,000 last week from a revised 277,000 in the prior week. This was the 14th straight week that claims came in below 300,000.
After the retail sales data, the dollar firmed against the euro, trading at around 1.1254. The US dollar index jumped to the high of the day, as much as 95.59.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year treasury note touched 2.5% early this morning for the first time since September. After the economic data dropped, the yield fell to around 2.43%.