European stocks may open higher on Thursday as investors assess another batch of earnings reports and keep an eye on today's ECB meeting. No changes are expected, but the language and the forward guidance will be crucial.
Asian stocks are mostly higher on optimism over earnings after Samsung Electronics posted a record quarterly profit.
The dollar hovered near three-month highs against a basket of currencies ahead of U.S. GDP data due out Friday and the looming inter-Korean meeting.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan is expected to keep its policy unchanged when it ends a two-day rate review on Friday.
Gold held little changed near five-week lows on dollar strength, while crude oil prices rose in Asian deals amid the prospect of fresh sanctions on Iran and concerns about output from Venezuela.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fluctuated before closing mixed as strong earnings from the likes of Boeing and Texas Instruments helped investors shrug off worries about higher interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 percent to snap a five-day losing streak and the S&P 500 inched up 0.2 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 0.1 percent.
Facebook shares jumped over 5 percent in after-hours trades after the social media giant reported revenue that topped forecasts.
Advanced Micro Devices, Visa, Ford and Qualcomm all posted encouraging financial results while AT&T reported first-quarter results that missed estimates.
European markets ended Wednesday's session firmly in the red on concerns over rising bond yields. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index shed 0.8 percent.
The German DAX tumbled 1 percent, while France's CAC 40 index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both lost about 0.6 percent.
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