1. Earnings deluge: Wall Street is awash in quarterly earnings.
Results will come through ahead of the opening bell from big names including MasterCard (MA), Twitter (TWTR), Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), UPS (UPS), Comcast (CMCSA), ConocoPhillips (COP), Dow Chemical (DOW), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Verizon (VZ).
Starbucks (SBUX), Amazon (AMZN), Expedia (EXPE), Intel (INTC) and Mattel (MAT) will release earnings after the close.
Firms headquartered outside the U.S. including Volkswagen (VLKAY), Samsung (SSNLF) and Total (TOT) have already reported.
2. Stock market movers: Shares in the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (AZN) dropped 16% after the company reported disappointing test results for a new cancer drug, Mystic.
"This is pretty much the worst case scenario for Mystic," said health care analysts at Liberum. "The shares will be weak for a prolonged period following today's news."
Shares in Whirlpool (WHR) were down about 4% premarket after the home appliances firm reported worse-than-expected results on Wednesday.
Facebook (FB) and PayPal (PYPL) shares were higher by about 2% to 4% ahead of the open after reporting results that beat analyst expectations.
Alcoholic beverages giant Diageo (DEO) -- which makes Guinness, Smirnoff and Captain Morgan -- is toasting a strong first half of the year. The firm reported results Thursday that sent shares surging by 6%, making them the top performer in London.
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3. Bidding wars: Viacom (VIA) has reportedly given up its pursuit of Scripps Networks (SNI). That leaves Discovery Communications (DISCA) as the main party interested in buying the media company, according to reports.
Shares in Viacom are poised to pop at the open because investors had been concerned it might overpay for the takeover deal.
The companies were not immediately available to comment on the takeover talk.
4. Up, up and away: U.S. indexes closed at fresh record highs on Wednesday and it looks like momentum could continue.
U.S. stock futures are all pointing up.
European markets mostly edged higher in early trading. Most Asian markets ended the day with gains.
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5. Coming this week:
Thursday -- Amazon (AMZN), Starbucks (SBUX) earnings
Friday -- ExxonMobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX) earnings; U.S. GDP report
