By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

21st Century Fox, Disney among companies to watch

U.S. stock futures pointed to another record session for the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 on Thursday.

Retail sales data could provide the next leg-up for equities, with investors watching to see whether the 2017 holiday shopping season got off to a solid start.

Also ahead are monetary policy decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of England, after the Federal Reserve revealed its own interest rate call on Wednesday.

What are futures doing?

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 37 points, or 0.2%, to 24,683, while those for the S&P 500 index gained 2.65 points, or 0.1%, to 2,671.75. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 Index added 9 points, or 0.1%, to 6,426.25.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at a record for the fourth-straight session on Wednesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dows-4-day-win-streak-in-jeopardy-with-all-eyes-on-fed-and-alabama-election-result-2017-12-13), closing up 0.3% at 24,585.43, after the Fed raised interest rates in a widely expected move. The S&P dipped less than 0.1% to close at 2,662.85, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2% to 6,875.8.

The S&P 500 closed at a record 2,664.11 on Tuesday.

What's driving the markets?

U.S. stock futures found some support early Thursday ahead of a clutch of economic updates.

Among that batch of data, retail sales will likely draw the most interest, with economists polled by MarketWatch looking for the headline number to rise by 0.4%, after a 0.2% gain in the prior month. Those expectations are upbeat for the holiday season, after retail sales got off to a solid start on Black Friday weekend (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-getting-ready-to-hike-as-retail-sales-but-not-inflation-picks-up-2017-11-29).

The November retail sales data is expected at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, as is a reading on import prices for the same month.

At 9:45 a.m. Eastern, the flash Markit manufacturing and services purchasing managers indexes for December will be released, followed by business inventories for October at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Details of the Republican tax deal (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-whats-in-the-republican-tax-deal-2017-12-13) have started to trickle out, with the big elements including a corporate tax rate of 21% and top individual rate of 27%. The corporate rate is currently 35%.

What are strategists saying?

"A post-Fed reflection and today's macro news will likely take the averages to new highs. We are expecting retail sales to be up 1.1%, as consumers continue to remain upbeat on the economy," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial.

"In fact, with tax cuts on their way consumers remain cheerful maintaining a high level of confidence that is contributing to stronger growth," he said in emailed comments.

"[It] seems unlikely that the head of the ECB will deviate from his current stance of leaving interest rates unchanged until the end of the QE program late in 2018," said Konstantinos Anthis, research analyst at ADS Securities, in a note to clients.

Central banks in focus

Traders are likely to watch comments out of the European Central Bank for a steer on the future unwinding of its stimulus measures. The ECB's policy decision is expected at 7:45 a.m. Eastern Time, and ECB President Mario Draghi will hold a press conference at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

Read: 3 things to watch for at Thursday's ECB meeting (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/3-things-to-watch-for-at-thursdays-ecb-meeting-2017-12-13)

The Bank of England will release its own interest rate decision at 7 a.m. Eastern Time, and is expected to stand pat after raising rates for the first time in a decade in November.

The monetary policy updates come a day after the Federal Reserve lifted a key short-term U.S. interest rate to a range of 1.25% to 1.5%, but in a sign of caution, stuck to its earlier forecast for just three 1/4-point rate increases in 2018. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-raises-interest-rates-and-makes-few-changes-to-outlook-ahead-of-transition-to-powell-2017-12-13)

What are other markets doing?

Climbing higher on Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-climbs-after-fed-sticks-to-3-rate-hikes-next-year-2017-12-14), gold rose $8.60, or 0.7%, to $1,257.20 an ounce.

The dollar was mostly steady, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index trading flat at 93.462.

Crude-oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-rise-on-signs-of-falling-us-inventories-2017-12-13) were largely steady. In its closely watched monthly oil report, the International Energy Agency said U.S. shale producers pushed global oil supply to its highest level in a year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-shale-ramps-up-helps-drive-oil-supply-to-highest-in-a-year-says-iea-2017-12-14).

Bitcoin futures rose to $17,520 in their fourth full day of trading (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-futures-rev-up-again-push-past-17500-2017-12-14), while the spot price for the most active digital currency rose to $16,590.96.

Stocks in Europe traded lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-sag-with-ecbs-final-policy-meeting-of-the-year-on-deck-2017-12-14) ahead of central bank decisions, while Asian markets finished mostly in the red (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-stock-markets-under-pressure-as-financials-drop-on-fed-hike-2017-12-14) as financials fell on news of the Fed interest-rate hike.

Which stocks are in focus?

Shares of 21st Century Fox Inc.(FOX) rose just over 1% in premarket trading, amid news Walt Disney Co.(DIS) could on Thursday announce a deal to acquire a large piece of the media company (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-closes-in-on-deal-to-acquire-21st-century-foxs-movie-tv-and-sports-assets-2017-12-13).

Tintri Inc.(TNTR) could be active after shares of the flash-storage company fell late Thursday on disappointing quarterly revenue and its outlook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tintri-shares-drop-as-revenue-outlook-disappoints-strategic-options-raised-2017-12-13).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 14, 2017 06:51 ET (11:51 GMT)