Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Thursday, Feb. 28:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were suggesting Wall Street would open higher Thursday following gains in Tokyo after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated Haruhiko Kuroda, currently president of the Asian Development Bank, as chief of the Bank of Japan.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed Thursday at 11,559.36, up 2.7%. Other markets in Asia posted gains.

European shares were rising in early trading Thursday.

2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. Thursday includes weekly initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. EST, the second estimate of fourth-quarter gross domestic product at 8:30 a.m., and Chicago PMI for February at 9:45 a.m.

3. -- U.S. stocks on Wednesday surged on a raft of good economic data and as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled ongoing support for accommodative monetary policies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished Wednesday's session within striking distance of its all-time high. The index jumped 175.24 points, or 1.26%, to close at 14,075, just off its all-time closing high of 14,164.

The S&P 500 jumped 19.05 points, or 1.27%, to close at 1,516. The Nasdaq increased 32.61 points, or 1.04%, to finish at 3,162.26.

4. -- Friday is the deadline for when across-the-board spending cuts will kick in unless President Obama and Congress can reach an agreement. But the likelihood of that happening is dim. Obama will meet with top congressional leaders, including Republican House Speaker John Boehner, on Friday at the White House.

5. -- J.C. Penney's(JCP) fourth-quarter loss widened from a year earlier as sales plunged almost 30%.