1. Dollar recovers but limited

The dollar edged higher on Thursday, as investors awaited the release of U.S. data due later in the day, although concerns over U.S. politics and global geopolitical tensions limited gains.

EUR/USD fell 0.20% to 1.0620, pulling away from a 1-week high of 1.0678 hit overnight.

The greenback initially weakened after U.S. President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal that the dollar "is getting too strong" and that he would prefer the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low.

Markets were also jittery after President Trump said the United States' relationship with Moscow "may be at an all-time low."

2. Global stocks mostly lower

The early drop of the USD contributed to a fall in global equities on Thursday. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended down 0.68% pressured lower by the stronger yen.

In Europe, the benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 was down 0.48%, Germany's DAX fell 0.29%, France’s CAC 40 shed 0.45% and London’s FTSE 100 lost 0.45%.

U.S. stock futures pointed to lower open on Wall Street, with the blue-chip Dow futures down 0.19%, S&P 500 futures losing 0.26% and the Nasdaq 100 futures off by 0.18%.

3. U.S. earnings kicks off

Wall Street's first-quarter earnings season gets underway in earnest, with major U.S. banks JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all reporting later Thursday.

The financial sector is projected to post a 15.4% profit gain, second only to energy among S&P sectors, with revenue rising 7.5%.

For the broader market, earnings are forecast to grow 10.1% from a year ago, the best since 2014, while sales growth is expected to jump by 7.5%, the best since 2011, according to Thomson Reuter’s data

A strong earnings season would help justify pricey stock valuations, with the S&P 500 rallying this month to its most expensive since 2004 on a forward price-to-earnings basis.

4. Economics data

The Labor Department will publish initial jobless claims figures at 12:30 GMT and the consensus forecast is that the report will show jobless claims rose to 245,000 last week from 234,000 in the prior week.

At the same time, the Commerce Department will publish data on March producer prices, which is expected to show that the PPI was flat last month but rose by 2.4% from a year earlier.

The University of Michigan is to release the preliminary reading of its consumer sentiment index for April at 14:00 GMT, Market analysts are expecting the index to have ticked down to 86.0 from 86.5 in March.

Official data on Thursday showed that China's exports rose at the quickest rate in slightly more than two years in March, increasing 16.4% from a year earlier, pointing to improving global demand.

Imports remained strong at 20.3%, reinforcing a picture of robust domestic demand.

China posted a trade surplus of $23.93 billion last month, the customs office reported after logging its first deficit in three years in February.