US Stock Futures Down; Jobless Claims Data In Focus

US stock futures are lower this morning, as investors are awaiting economic data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 44 points to 13,040.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 5.50 points to 1,401.70. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 10.25 points to 2,771.00. US stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.03% to 13,107.48, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.08% to 1,410.49 and the Nasdaq 100 index gaining 0.13% to 3,081.19. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. However, data on personal income and consumer spending for July will alse be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. CIENA CIEN is projected to report a Q3 loss at $0.02 per share on revenue of $473.54 million. Bio-Reference Laboratories BRLI is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.43 per share on revenue of $173.67 million. SAIC SAI is estimated to post its Q2 EPS at $0.33 on revenue of $2.65 billion. Zumiez ZUMZ is expected to post its Q2 EPS at $0.13 on revenue of $135.52 million. Esterline Technologies ESL is estimated to post its Q3 EPS at $1.13 on revenue of $488.00 million. Pandora Media P reported better-than-expected second quarter results and issued an upbeat third-quarter revenue outlook. Vera Bradley VRA reported a downbeat second-quarter profit and lowered its full-year earnings forecast. TiVo TIVO reported a narrower-than-expected second-quarter loss. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.29%, French CAC 40 index dropped 0.38%. London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.09% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.54%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average falling 0.95%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.03% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.94%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 1.19% and India's Sensex gained 0.29%. Nymex crude-oil futures declined $0.20 to trade at $95.29 a barrel, while gold futures fell $4.10 to $1,658.90 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) dropped 0.1% to trade at 81.469. The euro gained 0.1% versus the dollar to trade at $1.2548. The US dollar fell 0.1% versus the Japanese yen to trade at ¥78.63.