10 things you need to know before European markets open

The ECB lifted an important waiver for Greece and funds linked to the country's stocks plunged. The ECB scrapped the waiver which previously allowed the country's banks to use (junk-rated) Greek government bonds as collateral for lending, which has been removed now that a successful completion of Greece's bailout now looks unlikely. GREK, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks Greek stocks, plunged 10% on the news.

And the euro tumbled. The European currency dropped by at least 1.3% after the announcement, plunging against the dollar after the same news from the ECB.

Ukraine's president is calling for more arms from NATO. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on NATO states to send weapons to his country, saying in a newspaper interview that civilian deaths and the growing conflict should provide the Western alliance with enough reason to come to Ukraine's aid.

A massive Pacific Trade deal could be just weeks away. Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said an ambitious Pacific trade pact could be reached within weeks after years of contentious negotiations. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement includes 12 countries covering 40 percent of the world economy, including the US and Japan.

BT has reportedly agreed its EE purchase, and an announcement is looming. BT has reached agreement with Orange and Deutsche Telekom ? to buy their UK mobile network operator EE and a deal could be announced as early as Thursday morning, a person familiar with the situation said.

Europe's economic forecasts are coming. At 10 a.m. GMT (5 a.m. ET) the European Commission releases its official economic forecasts for the years ahead: That will include how long the institution expects Europe to stay in deflation, and give a sign of how much they expect the oil price slump to boost the economy.

Greece's radical new finance minister will meet his German opposite number today. Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis will meet his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schaeuble on Thursday, a day after the European Central Bank piled fresh pressure on Athens by cutting off Greek banks' access to a key source of much-needed cash.

Sony shares went through the roof. Shares in Sony jumped almost 10 percent in early trade Thursday after the struggling electronics giant revised earnings outlooks upward, and the stock closed up 12%.

Asian markets are mixed. Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.98%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently up 0.23%, and the Shanghai Composite Index is up 0.12%.

UBS is being investigated over tax evasion accusations again. The Swiss bank is being investigated over whether it helped US clients avoid taxes. It paid up $780 million over the same charge six years ago, according to the Financial Times.