Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Thursday, Feb. 7:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to gains on Wall Street.

European shares were rising modestly while Asian stocks ended Thursday's trading session mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.9% to close at 11,357.07, following a huge rally the day before

2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. Thursday includes weekly jobless claims, and quarterly data on productivity and unit labor costs. Both reports are scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. EST.

3. -- U.S. stocks on Wednesday closed mixed following a strong rally in Japan on the prospect of looser monetary policy there.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 7 points to 13,987.

The S&P 500 ticked up less than 1 point to 1,512. The Nasdaq lost 3 points to 3,168.

4. -- Boeing(BA) is proposing certain battery design changes that would minimize the risks of fire on its grounded 787 Dreamliner and allow the planes to begin flying again as soon as March, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing government and industry officials briefed on the matter..

5. -- Visa(V) said fiscal first-quarter net income rose 25% to $1.3 billion and revenue rose almost 12% percent to $2.85 billion.

Visa said transactions processed over its Visa network totaled $14.2 billion, an increase of 4% from a year earlier.

6. -- News Corp.(NWSA) posted adjusted earnings for its fiscal second quarter of 44 cents a share on revenue of $9.43 billion, topping analysts' estimates for profit of 43 cents a share on revenue of $8.98 billion.

The media giant, however, cut its annual forecast for operating income.