1. Earnings onslaught to hit Wall Street
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), General Motors (NYSE:GM), McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW), Raytheon (NYSE:RTN), Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) and NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ) are due to report quarterly earnings ahead of Thursday's opening bell.
After Thursday’s close of trading, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), AT&T (NYSE:T), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), Visa (NYSE:V) and Pandora Media (NYSE:P) are scheduled to report.
2. U.S. data in focus
The U.S. is to release weekly data on initial jobless claims at 8:30AM ET. The data is expected to show that weekly jobless claims dropped to 280,000 last week from 281,000 in the preceding week.
Also at 8:30AM, the Chicago Fed national activity index for June is due, followed by a report on leading indicators in June at 10AM.
Data on Wednesday showed that existing home sales rose to an eight-and-a-half year high in June, boosting optimism over the health of the economy and supporting the case for a rate hike later this year.
U.S. existing home sales increased by 3.2% to 5.49 million units last month, compared to expectations for a 1.2% rise to 5.40 million units.
3. Gold rises for first time in 11 sessions
Gold futures for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped $9.50, or 0.87%, to trade at $1,101.00 a troy ounce during U.S. morning hours, halting a ten-day losing streak.
Prices of the precious metal plunged to a five-year low of $1,080.00 on Monday amid speculation the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time in eight years as soon as September.
4. Greece approves second round of reforms
The euro was higher after Greek lawmakers passed a second set of crucial reforms on Wednesday, leading the way to the country's third bailout.
A majority of Greek lawmakers voted in favor of a second set of reforms late Wednesday, signaling that negotiations on an €86 billion European Union bailout can begin. The country is aiming for a deal by the middle of next month.
The new measures include changes to Greek banking and an overhaul of the judiciary system.
Greece had passed an initial set of austerity measures imposed by its creditors last week. These were a mix of economic reforms and budget cuts demanded before bailout talks could continue.