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At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.1% lower, while CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.2% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.2%.
The quarterly earnings season is starting to ramp up in Europe, with numbers expected from the likes of Swedish-Swiss industrial conglomerate ABB (ST:ABB) and Swedish home appliance manufacturer Electrolux (ST:ELUXb).
However, most of the attention is likely to be on the tech sector after streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) reported a miss with second-quarter revenue despite the addition of 5.9 million new streaming customers.
Additionally, EV manufacturer Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) said its profitability shrank in the second quarter, with CEO Elon Musk signaling he would cut prices again in “turbulent times”, as his price war on automaker rivals hits the company’s own margins.
In Asia earlier Thursday, Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC (NYSE:TSM) posted a 23.3% fall in second-quarter net profit as global economic woes dented demand for chips used in various applications.
German producer prices fell 0.3% on the month in June, suggesting inflationary pressures are lessening in the eurozone’s largest economy.
Data released Wednesday confirmed that eurozone inflation rose 5.5% on the year last month, a drop from 6.1% the prior month.
The European Central Bank is widely expected to raise its benchmark rate by 25 basis points next week, but what comes after that has been up for debate in the wake of the recent dovish tone taken by the central bank’s policymakers.
In the U.S., jobless claims and housing sales headline an otherwise sparse data calendar later Thursday.
Oil prices steadied Thursday after losses this week on the back of a strengthening dollar, making crude more expensive for foreign buyers, and with U.S. inventories falling less than expected.
The Energy Information Administration announced Wednesday that U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 708,000 barrels last week, much lower than expectations for a 2.4 million barrel draw.
This suggests fuel demand was struggling in the world’s largest consumer despite the travel-heavy summer season, as it followed a bigger-than-expected build in the inventories the prior week.
By 02:00 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% lower at $75.27 a barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 0.1% to $79.40. Both contracts are on course for losses of around 2% this week.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,982.95/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1210.
