Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a lower open on Thursday as investors looked ahead to earnings from Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and key data on the labor market.
The blue-chip Dow futures slipped 14 points, or 0.06%, at 6:42AM ET (10:42GMT), the S&P 500 futures lost 3 points, or 0.11%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 15 points, or 0.26%.
The world’s largest retailer will release earnings at approximately 7:00AM ET (11:00GMT) as the final trickle of reports for the second quarter are released this week.
Also in the Dow, shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) were down 3% in pre-market trade Thursday after the tech blue-chip reported quarterly revenue in its closely-watched security business that missed estimates.
In other earnings, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) are due to report quarterly results ahead of the opening bell.
After the market closes, mall-based retailers Gap (NYSE:GPS) and Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) are expected to report.
On the data front, market players will focus on weekly jobless claims as they continue to gauge the strength of the U.S. labor market.
That will be released along with the August Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT).
There is also industrial production data from July at 9:15AM ET (13:15GMT).
Market participants are keeping a close eye on economic reports to guess the impact that the data may have on the Federal Reserve’s outlook for monetary policy.
Though the minutes from the central bank's last meeting released on Wednesday showed a divide among policymakers due to recent softness in inflation, the record gave the idea that the Fed was prepared to move ahead with plans to announce balance sheet normalization in September.
In that light, investors will keep an eye on appearances from Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan and Minneapolis Fed chief Neel Kashkari later in the session.
Meanwhile, oil prices continued the prior day’s decline, slumping to their lowest level in around three weeks on Thursday after U.S. government data revealed a weekly climb in domestic production to the highest level in over two years.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed that total domestic crude production edged up by 79,000 barrels a day to 9.5 million barrels a day last week, its highest level since July 2015.
U.S. crude futures fell 0.26% to $46.66 by 6:43AM ET (10:43GMT), while Brent oil lost 0.10% to $50.22.
Elsewhere, European shares were lower as investors took profit after a three-day winning streak.
Earlier, stock markets across Asia ended mixed in quiet trade.