The Labor Department releases first-time claims for jobless benefits for the week ended July 7 at 8.30 a.m. EDT. Economists forecast a total of 372,000 new filings, compared with 374,000 in the prior week.

Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) next-generation iPhone has not even been released yet, but sellers on China's largest e-commerce platform, Taobao, are already accepting pre-orders, complete with mock-up pictures and purported technical specifications.

U.S. insurer Cigna Corp (CI.N) has signed a deal to buy a 51 percent stake in Finansbank's (FINBN.IS) wholly owned insurance unit Finans Emeklilik for 85 million euros ($104 million), Finansbank said in a statement on Thursday.

Centrica Plc (CNA.L), which owns British Gas, said it had agreed to buy two New York-based power providers from a U.S. subsidiary of Iberdrola (IBE.MC) for $110.2 million in cash to strengthen its position and increase its customer base in the U.S. Northeast.

The British utility's North American subsidiary, Direct Energy Services llc, will buy Energetix Inc and NYSEG Solutions Inc, which operate out of Rochester and Binghamton, New York.

China's economy may have grown around 7.5 percent in the second quarter and nearly 8 percent in the first half, and will recover steadily in the second half as policy stimulus gains traction, a senior economist at the cabinet's think-tank said on Thursday. The assessment comes a day before China reports its second quarter growth rate.

European shares .FTEU3 fell 0.6 percent on Thursday after the minutes to the U.S. Federal Reserve's June meeting dampened hopes for fresh monetary stimulus in the near term.

Japan's Nikkei share .N225 average posted its biggest fall in over a month after the Bank of Japan only offered minor tweaks to its easing strategy.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI shed 48.59 points, or 0.38 percent, on Wednesday to end at 12,604.53. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX dipped just 0.02 of a point to finish at 1,341.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC slipped 14.35 points, or 0.49 percent, to close at 2,887.98.

(Reporting By Viktoria Dendrinou; editing by Patrick Graham)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency