U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones climbed over 150 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) and Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP).

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect jobless claims increasing to 300,000 for the October 16 week from 293,000 in the previous week. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for October is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on existing home sales for September and the index of leading economic indicators for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 9:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 46,092,360 with around 751,810 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,127,450 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,680,480 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.9% to trade at $85.04 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $82.88 a barrel. US crude oil inventories dropped 400,000 barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The EIA’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.8% and STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.4%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% while German DAX 30 dropped 0.1%. Italy’s industrial sales increased 0.8% in August. The manufacturing climate indicator for France came in unchanged at 107 in October. Public sector net borrowing in the UK came in at £21.8 billion for September.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE:AMC), which recently announced it would accept meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) for the sale of digital gift cards, is exploring the possibility of issuing its own cryptocurrency in future.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved booster shots of Moderna Inc.’s (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Jonson & Johnson’s (NYSE:JNJ) COVID-19 vaccines as well as authorized “mixing and matching” of the booster doses.