US Stock Futures Flat; Jobless Claims, Retail Sales In Focus

US stock futures are mostly flat this morning, as investors are awaiting economic data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6 points to 13,225.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 1.60 points to 1,425.60. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.25 points to 2,670.00. US stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.02% to 13,245.45, the S&P 500 index rising 0.04% to 1,428.48 and the Nasdaq 100 index falling 0.28% to 3,013.81. Data on weekly jobless claims, November retail sales and the producer price index for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on business inventories for October will be released at 10 a.m. ET. CIENA CIEN is estimated to post a Q4 loss at $0.06 per share on revenue of $468.28 million. Adobe Systems ADBE is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.57 per share on revenue of $1.10 billion. Hovnanian Enterprises HOV is expected to report a Q4 loss at $0.06 per share on revenue of $461.75 million. Nordson NDSN is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $1.03 per share on revenue of $418.02 million. Quiksilver ZQK is expected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.10 per share on revenue of $563.91 million. Pier 1 Imports PIR is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.24 per share on revenue of $418.49 million. CA Technologies CA appointed Michael Gregoire as its new chief executive. Harbinger Group HRG announced a secondary public offering of shares of its common stock by selling shareholders. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.20%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.14%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.06% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.32%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.68%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 1.02% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.02%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.26% and India's Sensex dropped 0.65%. Nymex crude-oil futures dropped $0.57 to trade at $86.20 a barrel in electronic trade. The dollar index (DXY) gained 0.08% to trade at 79.96.