the us index futures point to a modestly lower open on wall street on thursday with the mood reflecting indecision among traders ahead of the key us retail sales report on wednesday us stocks recovered from the previous session’s steep selloff and managed to close firmly in the green partly aided by the producer price inflation report that showed a cooloff in the annual rates of the headline and core wholesale price inflation energy stocks skyrocketed after oil’s 134 rally on wednesday while consumer discretionary and utility stocks also saw notable gains on the other hand material and real estate stocks served as drags in premarket trading on thursday the spdr sp 500 etf trust spy was slipping 012 to 39411 and the invesco qqq trustqqq was down 028 to 29520 according to benzinga pro data the economic calendar of the day is loaded with data on jobs the manufacturing sector and the retail sales on the agenda the commerce department is scheduled to release the retail sales report for august at 830 am edt after remaining stagnant in july economists on average expect a 02 monthovermonth increase in retail sales the data could be considered a proxy for growth as consumer spending accounts for about twothird of the economic activity the labor department is set to release the weekly jobless claims for the week ended sept 10 and the export and import prices data for august both at 830 am edt results of separate september manufacturing surveys by the new york and philadelphia federal reserve are also due at 830 am edt at 915 am the federal reserve will release the industrial production report for august the consensus estimate calls for a slowdown in the monthovermonth pace of industrial output growth see also these 5 experts see a market crash ahead what do bz readers think   ev makers could be in the spotlight following needham’s upgrade of tesla inc and initiating coverage on fisker inc  rivian automotive inc and lucid group inc    railroad stocks such as union pacific corporation and csx corporation may react to the report that a tentative deal has been reached with unions potentially averting a railroad strike   esports entertainment group inc shares are sliding in reaction to the company’s proposed common stock offering crude oil futures were reversing course after wednesday’s advance a barrel of oil was currently trading at 8767 down 092 asian stocks closed thursday’s session on a mixed note as traders in the region remained wary of us feds rate move the chinese market pulled back sharply after the people’s bank of china left its mediumterm monetary policy rate unchanged the european markets were seen trading on a mixed note by late morning trading