U.S. stock futures rose Thursday as investors digested retail-sales data and oil hovered above $123 a barrel.

The U.S. stock market suffered its worst decline in nearly a month Wednesday as jittery investors unloaded financial shares for a quick profit and oil prices hit surged past $123 a barrel, keeping inflation fears alive.

Crude-oil futures fell 26¢ to US$123.37 a barrel in overseas trading Thursday morning.

The day’s main focus will be on the U.S. retail sector as companies release April same-store sales, which may have increased 1.5% to 2% due to an extra selling day and warmer weather at the beginning of the month.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US98.98¢, down 0.32 cent from Wednesday’s close.

In today’s earnings news, Air Canada reported a first quarter net loss of $288 million, including a $125 million provision for cargo price-fixing investigations and $89 million in currency setbacks.

Mega Brands Inc. posted a US$9.6-million first-quarter loss as sales declined 12% to US$79.1 million on lower shipments of movie-related licensed products and magnetic construction toys.

AbitibiBowater Inc. lost US$248 million in the first quarter on sales of $1.7 billion. The loss is not directly comparable with year-ago pre-merger results for Bowater Inc. and Abitibi-Consolidated Inc.

Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund raised its distribution while reporting a 6.3% gain in revenue and a near-break-even bottom line in its seasonally slowest quarter.

Unilever reported a better-than-forecast 34% profit rise, but Toyota Motor posted a 28% profit fall and said April profits would slip due to a weak dollar and a tough U.S. auto market.

In M&A news, Best Buy said it is going to pay US$2.1 billion for half of Carphone Warehouse’s stores in Europe.

In overseas markets, the FTSE 100 index was off 8.6 points to 6,252.4 near midday in London, while the German DAX slipped 0.3% and the Paris CAC-40 was off 0.2%.

Japan’s stock market closed with a loss of 1.1%, with the Nikkei average losing 159.22 points to 13,943.26.

Toronto stocks gave up ground on Wednesday despite strong oil prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 42.77 points, or 0.3%, to close at 14,371.53.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 5.44 points, or 0.22%, to close at 2,504.58.

The Canadian dollar slipped 0.41 of a cent to close at US99.3¢.

In New York, U.S. stocks tumbled on concerns about inflation and higher interest rates as oil jumped to a record above US$123 a barrel.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 206.48 points, or 1.59%, to 12,814.35. The S&P 500 fell 25.69 points, or 1.81%, to 1,392.57. The Nasdaq composite index lost 44.82 points, or 1.80%, to 2,438.49.