US Stock Futures Down; Crude Oil Drops

US stock futures are slightly lower this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 15 points to 13,503.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 2.20 points to 1,456.80. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 3.50 points to 2,846.75. US stocks closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 0.40% to 13,593.37, the S&P 500 index rising 0.40% to 1,465.77 and the Nasdaq 100 index gaining 0.89% to 3,183.95. The Empire State manufacturing index for September will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. LDK Solar Co Ltd

posted a wider-than-expected second-quarter loss. Zimmer Holdings

reported that its board has authorized a cash dividend of $0.18 per share for the third quarter. Tech Data

priced its public offering of $350 million principal amount of 3.750% Senior Notes. Orexigen Therapeutics

announced its plans to offer up to $150 million in mixed securities. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.26%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.27%, French CAC 40 Index fell 0.59% and German DAX 30 index declined 0.19%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with China's Shanghai Composite dropping 2.14% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.26%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.14% and India's Sensex rose 0.35%. Nymex crude-oil futures dropped $0.22 to trade at $98.78 a barrel in electronic trade, while gold futures fell $2 to $1,770.70 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) gained 0.1% to trade at 78.935. The euro declined 0.2% versus the dollar to trade at $1.3105. The US dollar gained 0.08% against the Japanese yen to trade at ¥78.4250.