US pre-open: Futures in the red ahead of jobless claims data
Wall Street futures were pointing to modest losses ahead of the bell on Thursday as market participants awaited this week's all-important jobless claims report from the Department of Labor.
As of 1225 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.52%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.62% and 0.85% lower, respectively.
The Dow closed just 25.07 points higher on Wednesday as energy and "meme" stocks traded higher.
Thursday's primary focus will be the Labor Department's jobless claims report at 1330 BST, with economists expecting to see claims drop from 406,000 to 400,000 - which would mark a new low figure in the pandemic era.
Also in focus, theatre chain AMC Entertainment shares were up as much as 20% in pre-market trading after filing to sell 11.0m shares and surging 95.59% in the previous session amid a resurgence in speculative trading.
AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "US futures are trading flat today as traders aren't sure backing riskier assets after a lackluster session on Wall Street yesterday.
"It seems like the markets are returning to their previous pattern of summer trading, which means a no broader return for the equity market during the summer months. Having said that, energy stocks continue to perform quite well on the back of the bull rally in oil prices."
On the macro front, May's Challenger job cuts report will be published at 1230 BST, while last month's ADP employment change figures will follow at 1315 BST, May's IHS Markit composite PMI will be released at 1445 BST and last month's ISM non-manufacturing PMI was slated for released at 1500 BST.
In the corporate space, Lululemon Athletica, Broadcom, Zumiez and Slack Technologies will all report earnings after the close.