5 Things You Should Know Before the Stock Market Opens

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures in the U.S. were pointing lower, a day after equities took big losses weighed down by diminished hopes for additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve and the prospect of more debt problems surfacing in Europe.

European shares were falling and Asian shares finished in the red on Thursday.

The economic calendar in the U.S. Thursday includes weekly initial and continuing jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The consensus estimate, according to Briefing.com, calls for initial claims to come in at 355,000, down slightly from 359,000 the week before.

The jobless claims report is a precursor to the Labor Department's big March jobs report on Friday.

Retailers will be releasing monthly same-store sales numbers on Thursday. The expectation is for a solid month with analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecasting an overall year-over-year gain of 3.4%.

Costco(COST ) , the warehouse retailer, early Thursday said comparable-store sales in March rose 6%.