NEW YORK� -- U.S. stocks were set to edge higher Thursday morning, as investors attempted to shake off worries about slowing economic growth and looked to corporate earnings.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU),S&P 500 (SPX)andNasdaq (COMP)futureswere higher.

Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

Stocks dropped Wednesday as fears about the economy and the pace of recovery hit confidence.

"There doesn't seem to be any long-term conviction in the market," said Dan Cook, a senior market analyst at IG Markets. "We could face some headwinds as we start to see the negative economic reports in the headlines rather than all these positive reports on earnings."

Earnings: But with a lack of major economic reports on tap for Thursday, investors are likely to turn their attention back to earnings reports.

While companies have reported impressive results so far, Cook said investors remain wary about the outlooks.

"[Companies] are touting these positive outlooks, but there's still a lot of cash in their coffers, and they're not willing to expand and hire," he said. "It's hard to believe what they're saying when they aren't backing it up with cash."

Companies on tap to post quarterly results include Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500), Colgate-Palmolive (CL, Fortune 500) and Motorola (MOT, Fortune 500).

Companies: Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) unveiled the Kindle 3, the newest version of its e-reader Wednesday. Amid the e-reader price war, the company also introduced a cheaper Wi-Fi-only model that will sell for $139.

Economy: The Department of Labor releases weekly jobless claims figures before the opening bell.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment last week to have held steady at 464,000. Continuing claims, a measure of Americans who have been receiving benefits for a week or more, is expected to have risen to 4,550,000 from 4,487,000 in the previous week.

World markets:European stocks advanced in morning trading. The CAC 40 in France gained 0.5%, the FTSE 100 in Britain rose 0.7% and Germany's DAX was up 0.6%.

Asian markets finished mixed. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.6% and the Hang Seng ended a shade higher, but the Nikkei in Japan tumbled 0.6%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar was down versus the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

U.S. light crude oil for September delivery edged up 32 cents to $77.31 a barrel.

COMEX gold's August contract gained $5 to $1,165.40 per ounce.

Bonds: Treasury prices fell, and the yield on the 10-year note edged up to 2.99%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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