By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

S&P, Dow and Nasdaq all set to rise at the open

U.S. stock futures pointed to small gains for Wall Street on Thursday, setting the Dow average on track to extend its best-record setting streak in three decades.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average crept 13 points higher, or 0.1%, to 20,761, indicating a 10th straight session of advances for the blue-chip benchmark. On Wednesday, the Dow rose 0.2% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-on-pause-after-record-rally-with-fed-minutes-ahead-2017-02-22), with the ninth consecutive rise also marking its longest run of record closes since 1987.

The string of gains also marked the longest winning streak since July 2016, when the index also rose for nine straight days. If the Dow closes higher on Thursday, it'll be longest winning run since March 2013, when it also went up for 10 straight days.

Futures for the S&P 500 index advanced 1.6 points, or 0.1%, to 2,362.25 on Thursday, while those for the Nasdaq-100 index added 2.5 points, or 0.1%, to 5,353.50.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite on Wednesday both edged lower after minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting earlier this month showed the central bank is comfortable with raising rates "fairly soon" (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-minutes-show-support-for-rate-hike-fairly-soon-2017-02-22).

Oil rally: The premarket gains on Thursday came as oil prices rallied (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-regain-momentum-us-supply-data-ahead-2017-02-23) and helped lift shares of U.S. energy giants. Crude oil climbed 1.5% to $54.38 a barrel, while Brent gained 1.5% to $56.87 a barrel, rebounding after Wednesday's losses. Traders digested data from the American Petroleum Institute that showed a 884,000-barrel decline in U.S. crude supplies last week.

Official inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration will be released later on Thursday.

"Expectations are for a modest build in reserves to be posted, but if we do see a drop, look for crude to stage a rally -- although a sustained break above $54.50 could remain something of a challenge in the short term," said Tony Cross, market analyst for TopTradr, in a note.

Read:Why oil experts think OPEC's U.S. headache won't go away this year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-oil-experts-think-opecs-us-headache-wont-go-away-this-year-2017-02-20)

And:OPEC chief Barkindo plays down threat from rise in U.S. oil output (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/opec-chief-barkindo-plays-down-threat-from-rise-in-us-oil-output-2017-02-21)

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) rose 0.4% premarket, Chesapeake Energy Corp.(CHK) added 2.7%, Transocean Ltd. (RIG) gained 1.6% and Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) advanced 1%.

Stock movers: Among stock movers, shares of Tesla Inc.(TSLA) rose 2.3% ahead of the bell after the electric-car maker late Wednesday reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss, but beat sales expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla-reports-wider-quarterly-loss-but-beats-sales-expectations-2017-02-22).

On a downbeat note, shares of L Brands Inc.(LB) sank 13% after the Victoria's Secret parent late Wednesday issued a weaker-than-forecast guidance for 2017 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/victorias-secret-parent-shares-sink-on-weak-guidance-2017-02-22).

Hormel Foods Corp.(HRL) , Kohl's Corp.(KSS) , Kate Spade & Co.(KATE) and AMC Entertainment Holding Inc.(AMC) could also move after reporting earnings premarket.

Economic news: Weekly jobless claims are due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, and are expected to show a drop to 237,000 from 239,000 the previous week.

The Chicago Fed national activity index for January comes out at the same time.

At 8:35 a.m. Eastern, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart is expected to speak about the past 10 years at the Atlanta Federal Reserve.

And around lunch time, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan participates in a discussion at the Tarrant County Bankers Association in Fort Worth, Texas.

See:

Other markets: Stocks in Asia closed mostly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-stocks-slide-lower-after-fed-minutes-released-2017-02-22) as investors digested the Fed minutes.

European stocks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-hunt-for-firm-direction-as-earnings-reports-pile-up-2017-02-23) bounced between gains and losses after a string of corporate updates.

Gold and silver posted gains, while other metals declined. The ICE Dollar index rose 0.1% to 101.36.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2017 05:36 ET (10:36 GMT)