Futures on major U.S. stock indices remained range-bound on Thursday ahead of key weekly U.S. jobs data from the government. Futures on the S&P 500 are down 0.04 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 0.04 percent and Nasdaq100 futures are up 0.10 percent. The Department of Labor is due to report the initial jobless claims data at 8:30 am EDT. The economists forecast initial jobless claims to be 455,000 for the week ended July 31 against 457,000 of the previous week. Any data that is weaker than expected will weigh on market sentiments. Other economic data from European region including Bank of England and European Central Bank’s decision on short term interest rate and German factory orders which are due to be released before US markets open. On Wednesday, US stock market ended mildly higher as investors were cheered by better-than-expected jobs data, easing their concerns ahead of Friday's Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report. European shares advanced on Thursday and are currently trading higher with FTSE 100 trading up by 17.78 points, DAX30 trading up by 9.86 points and CAC 40 trading up by 24.86 points. The euro advanced 0.08 percent to 1.3172 against the dollar and the yen advanced 0.03 percent against the greenback. Crude oil futures declined 0.29 percent and copper futures declined 0.51 percent. In precious metal sector, gold futures advanced 0.28 percent and silver futures advanced 0.53 percent. Asian stocks advanced, led by Japanese stocks on back of better-than-expected Toyota Motor’s profit forecast and reports on U.S. service industries and jobs. Japanese shares climbed 1.73 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.01 percent, while Chinese Shangai declined 0.67 percent.

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