U.S. stock index futures indicated a flat open on Thursday, the last trading day of the quarter, as investors looked ahead to data and several U.S. Federal Reserve speakers.
New York Fed President William Dudley will speak on lessons from the financial crisis at 5 p.m. EDT, while Chicago Fed President Charles Evans will speak earlier in the day, at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
U.S crude oil futures turned lower to briefly trade below $38 a barrel. U.S. stock index futures held mostly lower.
On the data front, initial jobless claims came in at 276,000.
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Chicago PMI is due out at 9:45 a.m. Investors also digested the latest Challenger, Gray and Christmas jobs cut report, which showed employer layoffs eased 22 percent in March month over month.
Treasury yields edged off lows, with the 2-year yield near 0.75 percent and the 10-year yield near 1.83 percent as of 8:38 a.m. ET.
The U.S. dollar index held lower, off about 0.4 percent, with the euro near $1.139 and the yen at 112.25 yen against the greenback.
On Friday, investors will turn their eyes to the key March jobs report. According to a Reuters poll, economists expect the U.S. economy to have added 205,000 jobs in March.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.71 percent, while the Shanghai Composite in China closed 0.12 percent higher. In Europe, the pan European Stoxx 600 Index was down by 0.8 percent.
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— CNBC's Patti Domm contributed to this report