1. Busy day for the U.S. economy

Investors focused on the next set of U.S. data to see whether it supports expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates before the end of the year.

The most important piece of data Thursday are August retail sales at 12:30 GMT. The consensus forecast is that the report will show retail sales dipped 0.1% last month, after holding flat in July. Core sales are forecast to inch up 0.2%, after falling 0.3% a month earlier.

Besides the retail sales report, the U.S. will also release data on weekly jobless claims, the Empire State survey and the Philadelphia Fed survey, all due at 12:30 GMT.

Industrial production is set for 13:15GMT, while business inventories is due at 14:00GMT.

Markets are pricing in just a 15% chance of a rate hike at the Federal Reserve's September 20-21 meeting. For December, odds stood at around 53%.

2. Bank of England rate decision looms

The Bank of England will release its rate decision and minutes of its Monetary Policy Committee meeting at 11:00GMT on Thursday.

Market analysts expect the BoE to stand pat on policy after a slew of robust data in the past few weeks saw fears of a recession in the near term abate.

A Reuters poll of economists published earlier this month predicted that the British central bank will wait until its November meeting before slicing 15 basis points from its benchmark interest rate.

The BoE cut interest rates to a record-low 0.25% at its August meeting and launched fresh easing measures in a bid to buffer the economy from a downturn following the Brexit vote.

3. Global stocks struggle for direction

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a marginally higher open on Thursday morning, ahead of a raft of data that could influence the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

Meanwhile, European and U.K. stocks flipped between gains and losses in choppy mid-morning trade, as traders kept an eye on movements in the oil market while awaiting a policy decision by the Bank of England.

Earlier, Asian shares ended mixed in holiday-thinned trade, as investors remained cautious before the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan policy setting meetings next week. Markets in China, Taiwan and South Korea were closed for public holidays.

4. Swiss National Bank keeps rates unchanged

The Swiss National Bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at record-low levels and reiterated that it is still prepared to take further action to weaken the CHF, it announced on Thursday.

The SNB kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at -0.75%, in line with expectations. The central bank also left the target range for the three-month Libor unchanged at between -1.25% and -0.25%.

The accompanying rate statement released after the announcement said that "the Swiss franc is still significantly overvalued." The SNB added that it will "remain active in the foreign exchange market, as necessary."