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Wall Street is on track to open flat to higher on Thursday ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the credit crisis, with General Electric Co. an early focus on a report it is preparing to auction off its appliances business.

A string of economic reports also will provide direction for investors.

According to spread bettors IG index, the Dow Jones industrial average is expected to open down about 2 points at 12,896. Separately, S&P 500 futures were up 2.20 points at 1,410, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 4.50 points to 2,001.

Wall Street advanced Wednesday after a better-than-expected report on consumer prices tempered some of the market’s concerns about inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 66.20, or 0.51%, to close at 12,898.38, the Nasdaq composite index added 1.58, or 0.06%, to 2,496.70, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 5.62, or 0.40%, to 1,408.66. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.92% from 3.94% late Tuesday, and light, sweet crude oil fell $1.58 to settle at $124.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

ECONOMIC DATA:

• Empire State Manufacturing index for May, 8:30 a.m. ET, 0.00 estimate
• Initial jobless claims, 8:30 a.m. ET, 370,000 estimate
• Industrial production for April, 9:15 a.m. ET, -0.3% estimate
• Capacity utilization for April, 9:15 a.m. ET, 80.1% estimate
• Philadelphia Fed Survey for May, 10 a.m. ET, -20.0 estimate
• National Association of Home Builders index for May, 1 p.m. ET, 21 estimate

EARNINGS HIGHLIGHTS:

Company                 Symbol    Period     Estimate 

Autodesk Inc.            ADSK       1Q       $  .48
Blackstone Group         BX         1Q          .12
Blockbuster Inc.         BBI        1Q          .15
BMC Software             BMC        4Q          .51
Compuware Corp.          CPWR       4Q          .21
J.C. Penney              JCP        1Q          .50
Kohl's Corp.             KSS        1Q          .44
Nordstrom Inc.           JWN        1Q          .49

AFTER-HOURS ACTION:

After Wednesday’s close of trading, media reports said Carl Icahn is moving forward with a full proxy slate to replace Yahoo Inc.’s board of directors. Agilent Technologies Inc. posted a fiscal second-quarter adjusted profit of 51 cents a share, beating the mean estimate of Wall Street analysts.