An hour before the opening bell investors will get the latest weekly initial jobless claims report, the last report on the labor market before Friday's crucial monthly jobs data.
A report on private-sector hiring from payroll processor ADP came in weaker than expected on Wednesday. More bad news on the labor market could stoke fears that the U.S. is in for a repeat of last month's grim jobs report.
But stocks have received some support of late from better-than-expected first-quarter corporate results. 68% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have beat analysts' expectations, according to Capital IQ.
The corporate earnings deluge will continue on Thursday, with results due in the morning from firms including General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Dow component Kraft (KFT, Fortune 500).
U.S. stocks ended mixed Wednesday as investors digested the weak ADP report and mostly upbeat corporate results.
Overall, it's been an anemic past few weeks for markets. Fears about a so-called hard landing in China, a stalled U.S. recovery and a flare-up in Europe's debt crisis have been weighing on investors in recent weeks, leading to the worst monthly returns of the year in April.
Overseas investors will be looking for the latest guidance from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi during his 8:30 a.m. ET press conference on Thursday. Interest rates are widely expected be left unchanged.
World markets: European stocks rose in morning trading ahead of Draghi's comments. Britain's FTSE 100 (UKX) ticked up 0.3%, the DAX (DAX) in Germany added 1% and France's CAC 40 (CAC40) rose 1.1%.
Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) edged up just less than 0.1%, while the Hang Seng (HSI) in Hong Kong slid 0.3%. Tokyo was closed for a holiday.
Economy: Initial jobless claims for the week ended April 28 are expected to total 375,000, according to a survey of economists by Briefing.com -- an improvement from 388,000 in the week prior.
Economists surveyed by CNNMoney are forecasting that Friday's report will show employers added 160,000 jobs to payrolls in April, but that the unemployment rate will remain unchanged at 8.2%.
Also on tap at 8:30 a.m. ET is a report on first-quarter productivity, which is expected to have slipped by 0.8%. in the first quarter. Employers' unit labor costs are forecast to have risen 3% in the same period.
At 10 a.m. ET the ISM Services index for April is expected to come in at 55.5, down from 56.0 in March.
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Companies: GM is expected to report quarterly earnings of 85 cents a share, down 10% from a year earlier, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters. Losses in Europe are expected to weigh on results, despite improved U.S. sales.
Foodmaker Kraft is forecast to report earnings of 56 cents a share, up from 52 cents a year earlier.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) shares plummeted more than 40% in late trading Wednesday, after the company reported quarterly revenue that missed estimates and lowered its guidance for 2012.
Shares of online reviews site Yelp (YELP) slipped after the company reported a net loss of $9.8 million, or 31 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2012 -- its first as a publicly traded company. Yelp is in the process of investing in international expansion.
Private equity firm The Carlyle Group priced its IPO Wednesday evening at $22 per unit, which was lower than its proposed $23 to $25 per unit range. That means the firm raised around $671 million, and has an initial market capitalization of nearly $6.7 billion. Carlyle will begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol CG.
Coming after the bell on Thursday, insurer AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) and social media company LinkedIn (LNKD) are due to report results. AIG is forecast to report a drop in earnings to $1.12 a share, while LinkedIn is expected to earn 9 cents a share.
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Currencies and commodities: The dollar rose against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.
Oil for June delivery lost 58 to $104.74 a barrel.
Gold futures for June delivery tumbled $10.70 to $1,643.30 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged marginally higher, but yields remained at the 1.92% they hit late Wednesday.
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