The main US stock measures were mostly pointing lower before Thursday's opening bell as traders await the latest round of corporate earnings.

Standard & Poor's 500 declined 0.2% and the Nasdaq was off 0.5% in premarket activity, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%. The majority of Asian and European exchanges were tracking in the green.

Shares of Alaska Air (ALK) gained 4.3% pre-bell as the airline reported fourth-quarter results that topped market estimates and issued guidance for a smaller-than-expected loss for the ongoing three-month period. Electronic Arts (EA) dropped 15% as the company reported preliminary fiscal third-quarter results.

GE Aerospace (GE), Union Pacific (UNP), Elevance Health (ELV), Freeport-McMoran (FCX), Northern Trust (NTRS), McCormick (MKC), American Airlines (AAL) and Old Republic International (ORI) are scheduled to report their latest financial results early Thursday, among others.

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Texas Instruments (TXN) and CSX (CSX) post earnings after markets close.

On the economic calendar, the weekly jobless claims bulletin is out at 8:30 am ET, followed by the weekly EIA natural-gas supplies report at 10:30 am. The Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index for January is slated for an 11 am release, while the weekly EIA petroleum inventories report is due at 12 pm.

Before the opening bell, bitcoin fell 2.4% to $101,850, West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 0.5% to $75.78 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries advanced 3.2 basis points to 4.63% and gold decreased 0.4% to $2,760 an ounce.