By Peter Nurse   

Investing.com – U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Thursday, helped by Treasury yields slipping off highs, while investors await key economic data and news from Washington about government funding.

At 7:05 AM ET (1105 GMT), the contract was up 140 points, or 0.4%, traded 16 points, or 0.4%, higher, while climbed 60 points, or 0.4%.

The major indices suffered from heavy selling earlier this week, the tech heavy in particular, after the hit a high of just under 1.57%. As promised cash flow futures look less appealing now, the yields have risen which has impacted less profitable tech stocks.

These stocks are now under pressure as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yields just 1.51%.

As the two opposing political parties on Capitol Hill play brinkmanship for the continuation funding of the federal budget, the positive tone could be fragile.  

Senate Majority Leader said late Wednesday that lawmakers had reached an agreement to avoid a government shutdown on Friday, extending government spending until Dec. 3. This news is not as positive as it sounds. It just kicks off the process. Democrats are still fighting for two important spending bills. It is possible that none of them will pass.

Investors will also be able to access a complete economic data set Thursday. They can also listen to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as well as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as they testify before the House of Representatives.  

The third estimate for second-quarter is expected to show quarter-on-quarter growth of 6.6%, while is likely to have risen by 3.7% in the second quarter, slowing from the first quarter’s 6.5% growth. The widely-watched is expected to have grown by 6.1% in the second quarter, unchanged from the first quarter, while the weekly are seen coming in at 335,000.

In corporate news, home retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:) is due to report quarterly results before the opening bell, while used vehicle retailer CarMax (NYSE:) is also due to report second-quarter earnings.

The unexpected increase in U.S. inventories, and the strong dollar pushed crude prices lower. However, the loss was limited by expectations that the market would remain in a supply gap for some time. 

inventories were up by 4.6 million barrels last week, data from the showed, as production in the Gulf of Mexico largely returned to the levels before Hurricane Ida hit around a month ago.

By 7:05 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% lower at $74.66 a barrel, while the contract fell 0.3% to $77.89.

Additionally, rose 0.1% to $1,723.70/oz, while fell 0.2% to 1.1573.