10 things you need to know before European markets open
UK retail sales are coming. At 9:30 a.m. London time (4:30 a.m. ET) we'll get July's retail sales figures for the UK. Analysts are expecting a 0.4% rise month-on-month and a 4.4% boost year-on-year.
Hong Kong stocks are officially in a bear market. After falling by a further 1.65% this morning, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index has now fallen over 20% from its April 27 high of 28,558.
Other Asian markets are suffering too. The Shanghai Composite is down 1.63% and Japan's Nikkei is down 0.73%.
Federal Reserve meeting minutes leaked. After details the Minutes were released by accident by Bloomberg, .
Citi cut its growth forecasts for China, and expects Beijing to do the same. The bank's economics team now expects China's economy to grow by 6.3% in 2016, down from 6.7% seen previously. For 2017, growth is forecast to accelerate to 6.5%, although this is significantly below the 7.1% pace previously forecast by the bank.
Fed rate-setter Kocherlakota is floating the idea of a higher US inflation target. Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota floated the possibility of increasing the Federal Reserve's inflation target as a way to reduce financial stability risks and make it easier for the Fed to achieve price stability and full employment.
A large car bomb went off at an Egyptian state security building. At least six people were wounded early on Thursday in a car bombing near a state security building and courthouse in a Cairo suburb, security sources said. The sources, who inspected the site of the blast in Shubra al-Khaima, said there was a burned-out vehicle and crater.
Valeant is nearing a deal for the company that's created a "female viagra." Canada's Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc is nearing a deal to pay $1 billion £637 million for Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the company that just won approval to sell the first drug that aims to boost a woman's libido, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Brazil's senate passed Rousseff's austerity bill. Brazil's Senate approved a bill to roll back payroll tax breaks on Wednesday that is a key measure in President Dilma Rousseff's efforts to reduce a gaping fiscal deficit and restore confidence in her government's accounts.
BNY Mellon is getting sued for $2 billion (£1.28 billion) by a US regulator. A US regulator sued Bank of New York Mellon Corp on Wednesday over more than $2 billion (£1.28 billion) in mortgage-backed securities purchased by a failed Texas bank, claiming BNY Mellon breached its duties as bond trustee to protect investors.