German Ifo and ECB minutes are scheduled for later in the session, while investors continue to assess the minutes from the most recent Fed meeting.

As investors assess the minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting and the news of further Chinese stimulus, markets open modestly higher on Thursday in a subtle trading manner.

The key market indices on Wall Street closed higher as a result of the minutes from the FOMC meeting in early November, which boosted the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of its aggressive interest rate hikes going forward.

Following four straight rises of 75 basis points, investors now generally anticipate that the Fed will increase by 50 basis points to 4.25%-4.5% at the December policy meeting.

Later in the session, the European Central Bank will release the minutes of its most recent meeting. However, markets are not anticipating the same generosity given that Eurozone inflation is currently at 10% and that the region may have entered a recession based on recent flash PMI readings from November.

However, despite China's announcement of a fresh rescue plan for its ravaged real estate industry and a potential reduction in the reserve ratio for banks, the rising COVID cases and record-high infection rates continue to dominate investor sentiment.

Nomura reduced its predictions for China's economic growth this year from 2.9% to 2.8% and for the following year from 4.3% to 4%, citing a "slow, expensive, and rough" reopening of the nation as COVID cases rise.

Also later in the session, the German Ifo Business Climate index for November is scheduled to be released, and many ECB speakers, including Vice President Luis de Guindos, Board Member Andrea Enria, and Executive Board Member Isabel Schnabel, are scheduled to speak.

As traders digest the proposed price cap on Russian oil from the Group of Seven countries, crude oil prices dipped on Thursday, continuing the previous session's decline.

According to sources on Wednesday, the G7 is considering setting a cut on Russian seaborne oil at $65 to $70 a barrel. However, more discussions have been arranged for later in the session as this has not yet been confirmed.

The range would be more than what the markets had anticipated and is thought to be less likely to incite Russian President Vladimir Putin to interfere with the world's supply.

Additionally, the Energy Information Administration noted that while gasoline and distillate stockpiles both significantly increased, U.S. crude inventories decreased by 3.7 million barrels last week, which was more than anticipated.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com, proactiveinvestors.co.uk)