US pre-open: Futures in the red ahead of first day of September trading
US futures were pointing to losses ahead of the bell after major indices wrapped up August in the red.
As of 1215 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.55%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.64% and 0.90% weaker, respectively.
The Dow closed 280.44 points lower on Wednesday following a weaker-than-expected reading on the US jobs market from consultancy ADP.
With the blue-chip Dow Jones closing the month roughly 4.1% lower, while the S&P and Nasdaq recorded losses of 4.2% and 4.6%, respectively, market participants will now look to see whether major indices will touch June lows in September, a historically poor month for markets, amid recent hawkish comments from central bank officials.
Thursday will be a busy day on the macro front, with August's Challenger job cuts data out at 1230 BST and jobless claims data for the week ended 27 August following at 1330 BST.
Last month's S&P Global manufacturing PMI will be on deck at 1445 BST, while the Institute for Supply Management's August manufacturing PMI and July construction spending figures will both be released at 1500 BST.
AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "US and European futures are indicating that traders are on the back foot, and this may lead to a negative open. August has been a brutal month for the US and European equities, and September is set to pick up the momentum where traders left things in the previous month."
No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Thursday.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com