GM General Motors Company

Stocks in Europe inched lower and U.S. futures were little changed Thursday as investors paused following a recent rally and waited for the European Central Bank's first policy meeting since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union last month.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.3% recently, weighed down by falls in airline shares. U.S. futures pointed to a 0.1% opening loss for the S&P 500. Markets in Asia mostly gained after Wall Street closed at record highs Wednesday.

Global stocks have been on the rise in recent weeks, fueled by a series of data releases underlining the strength of the U.S. economy, corporate earnings and expectations of further central bank action following the Brexit vote.

Economists don't expect the European Central Bank to boost its stimulus measures Thursday, but many believe officials will signal such a move is on the cards at the bank's September meeting.

While the effects of Britain's vote to leave the EU will be mainly felt in the U.K., a host of issues still put ECB President Mario Draghi "in a tough position," said Carl Hammer, chief currency strategist at Swedish bank SEB.

In addition to Brexit, Europe is dealing with a wave of recent terror attacks, rising populism, a still-fragile economy and concerns over the health of the Italian banking system, Mr. Hammer said. He expects the ECB to deliver new measures in the fall.

While investors don't expect fresh measures from the ECB Thursday, they are watching to see whether the bank loosens some of the rules governing its quantitative easing, or QE, program amid concerns it will soon run out of eligible assets to buy.

An asset shortage could prove a problem if the ECB wants to boost stimulus measures at a later date. Many analysts believe officials are reluctant to cut rates further into negative territory over concerns about denting the profitability of Europe's struggling banking sector.

"I don't think the ECB will cut rates much further. If they extend easing, they will have to do it through QE," said Gareth Colesmith, a senior portfolio manager at Insight Investment.

"The problem is they're running out of bonds," he said.

Investors in Europe were also focused on corporate earnings releases. Airline stocks were under pressure after easyJet PLC reported a fall in sales and Deutsche Lufthansa AG issued a profit warning, sending shares in the latter down over 8%.

Mining shares, meanwhile, climbed following declines earlier this week.

Attention will return later to the U.S. corporate earnings season, with reports expected from General Motors Co., among others.

Shares in eBay Inc. were up 6.7% in premarket trade after the company posted its second straight quarter of sales gains after the closing bell Wednesday. Shares in chip maker Qualcomm Inc. gained 6.7% in premarket trading after the company reported better-than-expected sales in the latest quarter.

In currencies, the euro was flat against the dollar Thursday at $1.1011. The buck fell over 1% against the yen to ¥ 105.9870 after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said there was "no need and no possibility for helicopter money," government spending funded directly by the central bank, speaking on a prerecorded radio show with the British Broadcasting Corporation.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.3% after hitting a four-month high Wednesday as investors signaled a stronger expectation that the U.S. Federal Reserve would raise interest rates this year.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell slightly to 1.577% as prices rose.

Asian bourses mostly ended higher Thursday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index entered bull market territory with a 0.5% rise, taking gains to just over 20% since its mid-February low. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended 0.8% higher and Australia's S&P ASX 200 was up 0.4%.

In commodities, Brent crude oil was down 0.1% at $47.12. Gold rose slightly to $1,321 an ounce.

Write to Christopher Whittall at christopher.whittall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 21, 2016 05:45 ET (09:45 GMT)

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