US pre-open: Stocks little changed ahead of July PPI reading.

Source: Sharecast

As of 1220 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.20%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.17% and 0.08% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 21.58 points lower on Wednesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session, after July's all-important consumer price index increased by 0.1% momth-on-month.

Investor attention will turn to last month's producer price index on Thursday, slated for release at 1330 BST, with economists expecting to see headline PPI cool from 0.3% to 0.2% month-on-month, while core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was seen rising to 0.3% last month versus 0.2% in June.

Elsewhere on the macro front, weekly jobless claims from the Labor Department will also be released at 1330 BST.

In the corporate space, the Financial Times reported that investors in Anthropic expect the AI firm to be valued at more than $2trn when it lists on the US stock market. According to the report, Anthropic could go public as early as October, with backers targeting what would be a record valuation for a newly listed tech firm. Anthropic has yet to formally set a date for its initial public offering.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com