Wall Street was set to edge higher on Thursday, with investors eyeing retail sales data, due before the market opens.

At 4:42 a.m., futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up between 0.1 and 0.3 percent.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.5 percent at 884.33 points.

On a thin day for U.S. corporate results, with National Semiconductor the only S&P 500 company reporting, investors will focus on macroeconomics news.

Retail sales probably rose in May for the first time in three months, helped by rising gasoline prices and an uptick in demand for cars and light trucks in response to aggressive discounting. May sales, due at 8:30 a.m. EDT, are forecast to have risen 0.5 percent, after falling 0.4 percent in April, according to a Reuters survey.

Weekly jobless claims, also due at 8:30 a.m. EDT, are expected to edge lower by 6,000 to 615,000 for the latest week.

Data due after the market opens includes business inventories for April, which are expected to show a steady contraction of 1 percent for the month, in line with March's fall.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday on worries that rising interest rates could put a damper on consumer and business spending, but stocks pared losses late in the session to finish off the day's lows.

Vulcan Materials Co shares fell 6.4 percent in extended trade after the asphalt maker announced an 11.5 million share offering and guidance for its second-quarter and full year.

U.S. foreclosure activity for May ebbed from April's record, but mortgages still failed at a staggering pace as President Barack Obama's rescue programs had not had time to fully take root, RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Brian Gorman)

Retail sales