US stock index futures rose before spending and confidence data

US stock index futures opened higher today ahead of couple of economic releases that include consumer spending and Chicago-area manufacturing data.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched 48 point higher, or 0.18% to 14,865. Those for the S&P 500 index added 1.8 points, or 0.1% to 1,638.20, whole futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 8 points, or 0.26% points to 3,097.50.

All indexes, however, were on track for weekly losses after worries that the U.S. would launch a military intervention in Syria pushed markets lower in the beginning of the week. The month of August for major indices was also looking weak.

Fears of a strike in Syria eased a bit on Thursday, after the U.K. parliament voted against taking action against the country.

Yesterday, U.S. stocks ended higher after data showed economic growth in the second quarter was revised up to 2.5% instead of the initial reading of 1.7%.

In corporate news, General Electric Co. was in the spotlight after The Wall Street Journal said the company plans to spin off its retail lending and credit-card business in an initial public offering as early as next year.

Shares of Salesforce.com Inc. rallied 7.9% in pre-market trade after the business-software firm said it swung to a profit in the second-quarter of the year.

Shares of U.S. oil and gas producer Apache Corp. rose over 5% after striking a deal to sell a 33% stake in its Egypt oil and gas business to China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. for $3.1 billion.

Krispy Kreme said its second-quarter profit sank to $4.7 million, or 7 cents a share, from $4.9 million, or 7 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, the doughnut company would have earned 14 cents a share, below the 16 cents a share forecast by analysts in a FactSet survey. The company also projected full-year earnings of 59 cents a share to 63 cents a share, falling short of the 64 cents a share estimate by analysts. Shares of Krispy Kreme slumped over 11% in after-hours trading.

Splunk reported its second-quarter loss deepened to $13.7 million, or 13 cents a share, from a loss of $4.6 million, or 5 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Splunk would have lost a penny a share, better than the 3-cent loss expected by Wall Street. Shares of the software company rallied more than 5% in after hours trading.