The Bank of England will announce its rate decision at 11:00 GMT. The central bank will also publish its quarterly inflation report at the same time. BOE Governor Mark Carney will hold a press conference shortly after the announcement.

Sluggish economic data since the U.K. central bank's June meeting combined with deep uncertainty about the impact of Brexit appears to suggest that the BOE is likely to hold rates at current record low levels.

The GBP rose to an 11-month high of 1.3266 against the dollar. It was last at 1.3255, up around 0.2% on the day.

Investors looked ahead to a key batch of U.S. economic data to gauge how it will impact the Federal Reserve's view on monetary policy.

Today's data includes weekly jobless claims at 12:30 GMT, followed by the ISM non-manufacturing survey at 14:00 GMT. Factory orders are also released at 14:00 GMT.

The U.S. NFP jobs report for July is due out on tomorrow.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 92.80 in early trade after touching a 15-month low of 92.39 in the prior session.

Dozens of companies are expected to release earnings today in one of the last big waves of the earnings season.

Ahead of the opening bell, results are due from Aetna, Yum Brand, Kellogg, Hyatt Hotels, Teva, Allergan, Clorox, Sotheby’s, Grubhub, and Chesapeake Energy.

Kraft Heinz, Viacom, Activision Blizzard, Universal Display, GoPro, Weight Watcher and Shake Shack report after the close.

Tesla's earnings will also be in focus, after the electric carmaker reported quarterly revenue that doubled late on Wednesday, sending its shares almost 7% higher in pre-market trade.

Oil prices were higher as investors viewed weekly U.S. inventory data on crude and refined products as bullish. The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported a 1.5 million barrel drop in U.S. crude supplies last week, below analysts’ expectations.

However, gasoline inventories fell by a more-than-expected 2.5 million barrels while demand hit a record above 9.8 million barrels a day, the EIA said.

Global stock markets were broadly lower, as investors locked in recent gains from a recent rally which was supported by better-than-expected corporate results and signs that the global economy is chugging along.

Asian shares ended mostly in negative territory, led by falls in South Korean tech shares.

In Europe, shares fell back as energy and banking stocks dragged broader indices.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street, with the blue-chip Dow futures indicating a loss of 22 points, or around 0.1%, to 21,937. It broke the 22,000 barrier for the first time in its 121-year history on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 futures ticked down 5 points, or about 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures fell 9 points, or roughly 0.2%.