5 Things You Need to Know Before the Stock Market Opens

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures suggested Wall Street would open higher Thursday ahead of a deadline on Greece's debt swap and U.S. jobless claims.

Investors with about 60% of the Greek bonds eligible for the nation's debt swap have so far indicated they'll participate, according to Bloomberg.

European shares were rising Thursday and Asian stocks finished with strong gains.

The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are holding meetings Thursday, but the central banks aren't expected to make changes to interest rates.

The economic calendar in the U.S. Thursday includes weekly jobless claims. The consensus view for initial claims is 355,000, up slightly from 351,000 in the prior week.

The U.S. Treasury is selling $6 billion worth of its bailout-related holdings in insurance giant American International Group(AIG) .

AIG is expected to purchase up to $3 billion worth of the stock being sold by the Treasury, which will still hold nearly $42 billion sunk into the company following its 2008 bailout.