Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Stock futures are flat
Stocks are set for a muted open Thursday, as weekly jobless claims rose slightly last week but met expectations. The market is looking to build off Wednesday's robust gains, which put an end to a two-day losing streak to start August trading. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed Wednesday, advancing 2.59% as investors flocked to beaten-up tech stocks. The S&P 500 added 1.56% and reached its highest level since June, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.29%.
2. Walmart lays off corporate employees
Walmart, the largest private employer in the U.S., has started to lay off corporate workers. The decision, which the company confirmed Wednesday, came public a little more than one week after the Arkansas-based retail giant cut its full-year profit outlook and warned about inflation's impact on discretionary spending. "Shoppers are changing. Customers are changing," Walmart spokesperson Anne Hatfield told CNBC's Melissa Repko on Wednesday. "We are doing some restructuring to make sure we're aligned." Read CNBC's full story here.
3. Oil fluctuates after settling nearly 6-month lows
Oil bounced between gains and losses Thursday morning, a day after crude futures for both the U.S. and international benchmarks slid nearly 4% and settled at their lowest levels since February. The move came as OPEC and its oil-producing allies said they would only raise their output by 100,000 barrels per day in September. An unexpected increase in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles also weighed on energy markets in Wednesday's session. On Thursday morning, West Texas Intermediate futures traded as low as $90.15 per barrel.
4. Alibaba shares gain after earnings beat
U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba jumped following a top-and-bottom lines earnings beat from the Chinese e-commerce giant. The company's shares went as high as 7% in premarket trading, before retreating slightly. While revenue of 205.55 billion Chinese yuan ($30.68 billion) topped estimates of 203.19 billion yuan, it's the first time in company history that quarterly sales remained flat year over year. CNBC's Arjun Kharpal has the full earnings recap here.
In other earnings news, Burger King and Tim Hortons parent Restaurant Brands International reported better-than-expected results Thursday.
5. Bank of England hikes rates by half-percentage point
The Bank of England raised interest rates by 50 basis points Thursday, its biggest single-meeting increase in 27 years as the U.K. central bank tries to tamp down inflationary pressures. Notably, the Bank of England now projects the nation's economy will enter a recession in the fourth quarter of 2022 that could last more than a year. It expects headline inflation to peak in October, at 13.3%, and stay above its 2% target until 2025. Read the full story from CNBC's Elliot Smith here.
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