US pre-open: Futures trade lower ahead of jobless data
Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Thursday as market participants await this week's jobless claims data from the Labor Department.
As of 1220 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.22%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were trading 0.23% and 0.17% softer, respectively.
The Dow closed 68.93 points lower on Wednesday after the Labor Department's job openings and labor turnover survey revealed that openings outnumbered the unemployed by more than 2.0m in July.
Thursday's primary focus will be the jobless claims report at 1330 BST, with economists expecting to see initial claims slipping from 340,000 to 335,000 in the seven days ended 4 September.
US traders will also likely be tuned into the European Central Bank throughout the course of the day, with many speculating that the bank will be the first of the major central banks to announce the start of tapering to its asset purchase program.
In the corporate space, athletics retailer Lululemon shares rallied in extended trading after posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings, while Boston Beer stock sunk after pulling guidance amid slower-than-anticipated adoption of its hard seltzer products.
Elsehwere on the macro front, Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman and New York Fed president John C Williams.