US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street

US stock futures are lower this morning, after a strong decline in European and Asian markets. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 125 points to 12,863.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 14.50 points to 1,360.70. Nasdaq 100 futures tumbled 25.50 points to 2,648.75. US stocks closed mostly higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.50% to 13,029.26, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.12% to 1,378.53 and the Nasdaq 100 index dropping 0.24% to 3,000.45. Eaton Corporation

is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.90 n revenue of $4.01 billion. ConocoPhillips

is projected to post a Q1 earnings at $2.08 per share on revenue of $53.6 billion. Xerox Corp

is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.23 per share on sales of $5.49 billion. Sonic Automotive Inc

is projected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.34 on revenue of $1.98 billion. Roper Industries Inc

is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $1.04 on revenue of $704.27 million. Crane Co

is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.91 on revenue of $647.40 million. SunTrust Banks Inc

is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.33 on revenue of $2.09 billion. DR Horton Inc

is projected to post its Q2 EPS at $0.04 on revenue of $853.38 million. Apollo Global Management LLC

lifted its offer to buy Great Wolf Resorts

to $7.85 per share. Ardea Biosciences Inc

agreed to be bought by AstraZeneca PLC

or $32 per share, or $1.26 billion. Business activity across the 17-nation euro zone declined in April, according to the preliminary purchasing managers' index released by Markit. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 1.92%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 1.63%, French CAC 40 index fell 1.83% and German DAX 30 index dipped 2.72%. Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declining 0.20%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.76% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.32%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.84% and India's Sensex fell 1.66%. Crude-oil futures for June delivery dropped $0.82 to $103.03 a barrel. However, gold for June delivery declined $10 to $1,632.70 an ounce. The ICE dollar index (DXY) gained 0.38% to 79.44, versus 79.140 reached in late North American trading Friday.