A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

US stock futures are lower this morning, as investors are awaiting weekly jobless claims and private payrolls data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 79 points to 12,277.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 10.20 points to 1,262.80. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 15.25 points to 2,313.50.

European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.84%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.67%, French CAC 40 index fell 0.99% and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.86%. Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.7894%, China's Shanghai Composite declining 0.97% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 1.01%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.4598% and India's Sensex dropped 0.16%.

The Benchmark Company downgraded Google Inc

from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Google is set to $700. Google shares dropped 0.15% to $667.26 in after-hours trading.