US Stock Futures Down As Investors Await Payrolls Data

US stock futures are lower this morning, ahead of June's nonfarm-payrolls data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 20 points to 12,812.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 2.40 points to 1,359.00. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 4.50 points to 2,638.00. US stocks closed mostly lower on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.36% to 12,896.67, the S&P 500 index falling 0.47% to 1,367.58 and the Nasdaq 100 index rising 0.04 points to 2,976.12. The Labor Department is scheduled to release the unemployment report at 8:30 a.m. ET. Xyratex XRTX reported better-than-expected fiscal second quarter results. Seagate Technology STX issued downbeat revenue forecast for the June quarter. Haverty Furniture HVT reported a 5% rise in its second-quarter sales. Informatica INFA issued downbeat Q2 forecast. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.26%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.16%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.50% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.47%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average falling 0.65%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 1.01% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.26%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.04% and India's Sensex fell 0.04%. Crude-oil futures for delivery in August declined dropped $1.58 to $85.64 a barrel on Globex. Gold futures dropped $15.50 an ounce to $1,593.90. The ICE dollar index (DXY) gained 0.1% to 82.88, versus 82.826 in late North American trade Thursday. The euro dropped 0.2% against the dollar to trade at $1.2370.