NEW YORK - Stock futures are holding on to early gains despite a report showing a bigger-than-expected rise in new jobless claims.

The Labor Department says the number of new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 30,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 554,000, up from the previous week and more than economists had been expecting. A department analyst says the report was distorted by the timing of auto plant shutdowns.

Total unemployment benefit rolls fell to the lowest level since mid-April.

Stock futures had already been rising amid news of dealmaking and a barrage of upbeat earnings reports.

Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 40 to 8,873. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are up 5 to 954, while Nasdaq 100 index futures are up 7 to 1,564.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. stock futures are pushing higher Thursday amid news of dealmaking and a barrage of earnings reports.

The rise in futures comes after gains in Asia and amid relatively flat markets in Europe.

A wave of merger-and-acquisition activity gave investor confidence a boost early Thursday. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said late Wednesday it is buying Medarex Inc. for about $2.1 billion in cash, the latest in a string of acquisitions by the drugmaker.

The New York-based company said it will pay $16 a share for Medarex - a 90 percent premium over Medarex's closing share price Wednesday of $8.40. Medarex shares nearly doubled in premarket trading, jumping $7.48 to $15.88

Meanwhile, Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy Zappos.com Inc., a privately held online shoe store, in a deal worth about $850 million.

The day's earnings news was also rather upbeat. Ford Motor Co. surprised the market with a second-quarter profit of $2.3 billion due mainly to a huge gain for debt reduction, while drugmaker Wyeth, cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc. and candy maker Hershey Co. all raised their profit forecasts for the year.

Beside corporate reports, investors will be looking to data on the housing and labor markets for more clues on the health of the economy.

Ahead of the market's open, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 39, or 0.4 percent, to 8,872. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures added 4.40, or 0.5 percent, to 953.80, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 6.25, or 0.4 percent, to 1,562.75.

Overseas, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged 3 percent. The Hang Seng now stands at its highest level since September 10, outpacing the recovery in U.S. markets.