It's Thursday. Time for some trading?
Here are the five things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:
1. Stock market movers -- Salesforce.com, Transocean: Salesforce.com (CRM) looks set to surge after the company reported better-than-expected earnings.
Shares in the oil drilling services firm Transocean (RIG) are rising by about 2.5% premarket after the company said it had reached two settlements related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010.
The first settlement will see the company pay roughly $212 million to plaintiffs. The second settlement with BP (BP) will see both companies drop their legal wranglings over the incident.
"These settlements provide substantial closure to five years of litigation," said Transocean CEO Jeremy Thigpen in a statement.
Shares in BP are also edging up by 0.6% in London, outperforming the overall market.
2. Stock market overview: U.S. stock futures are looking soft ahead of the open.
European markets are mostly lower in early trading.
Asian markets ended with mixed results.
Related: China's richest man lost $15 billion in one hour
3. Earnings: Best Buy (BBY) and Dollar Tree (DLTR) are reporting ahead of the open.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and The Gap (GPS) will report after the close.
4. Economics: The U.S. government will post weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.
The National Association of Realtors will report existing home sales data at 10 a.m. ET.
5. Wednesday market recap: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 27 points on Wednesday, dipping back after hitting a record closing high earlier in the week. The S&P 500 slid 0.1% and the Nasdaq was unchanged.
