Here are the top 5 things to know this Thursday.
1. Markets brace for U.S. jobs report
Market players looked ahead to data on U.S. nonfarm payrolls on Friday for fresh clues on the likelihood of a December rate hike.
The consensus forecast is that the data will show jobs growth of 175,000 in September, following an increase of 151,000 in August. The unemployment rate is forecast to hold steady at 4.9%, while average hourly earnings are expected to rise 0.2% after gaining 0.1% a month earlier.
A strong nonfarm payrolls report would reinforce the view that a U.S. rate hike in December may be on the cards, after hawkish signals from senior Fed officials in recent weeks revived speculation of a rate hike before the end of the year.
Ahead of the employment data, markets will digest a report on initial jobless claims at 12:30GMT later Thursday.
Investors are pricing in a 61% chance of a rate hike by December. November odds were at around 17%.
2. Global stocks mixed with U.S. data in focus
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a marginally lower open on Thursday morning, as market players looked ahead to more U.S. economic data for hints on the possibility of a December rate hike.
Meanwhile, European and U.K. stocks were broadly lower in choppy mid-morning trade, as markets kept an eye on oil prices.
Earlier, Asian shares ended mostly higher, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, which came on the back of stronger U.S. economic data.
3. Oil prices hold steady near June highs
Oil prices wobbled between gains and losses on Thursday, but held steady near a four-month high underpinned by data showing that crude supplies in the U.S. fell for the fifth week in a row and as market players awaited details of a planned output cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
U.S. crude was up 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $49.88 a barrel, while Brent tacked on 15 cents, or 0.3%, to $52.01 a barrel.
4. U.S. dollar steady at 2-month high
The dollar edged higher to trade near a two-month peak against the other major currencies on Thursday, as growing expectations for a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve continued to support the greenback.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.2% at 96.33 early Thursday, just below a two-month high of 96.38 touched earlier this week.
Against the yen, the dollar rose nearly 0.2% to 103.66 after touching a session high of 103.74, which was the strongest level since September 6.
The euro, meanwhile, inched down 0.2% against the greenback to 1.1182.
Elsewhere, sterling slumped 0.25% to 1.2713 after falling as low as 1.2686 on Wednesday, its weakest in more than three decades, on fears of the impact of Britain's impending exit from the European Union.
5. Twitter sinks 14% on after all bids removed
Shares of Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) tumbled nearly 14% ahead of the opening bell on Thursday morning after Recode reported that tech giants Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) would not move forward with a bid to acquire the social network. Media conglomerate Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) is not pursuing a bid for the social platform either, according to sources.
Analysts and news reports have previously discussed Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), Walt Disney, Alphabet and Apple as potential buyers.
Twitter's stock was last down 13.7% in pre-market hours at $21.45.