US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Economic Data

US stock futures dropped in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. The consumer price index for July, the Empire State manufacturing index and weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 64 points to 15,240.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 8 points to 1,674.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 19.75 points to 3,103.50.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.11%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.69% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.66%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.58% and French CAC 40 Index declined 0.33%. In July, UK retail sales increased 1.1% on the month and surged 3% y/y. However, economists were expecting sales to increase 0.7% on the month. Asian markets ended lower today. China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.87%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average tumbled 2.12%. Australia's ASX/S&P500 dropped 0.08% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.01%.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded Carnival

from “neutral” to “buy.” The target price for Carnival has been raised from $31 to $42. Carnival's shares closed at $36.91 yesterday.