US Stock Futures Flat; Apple Shares Drop In Pre-Market Trading - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures were mostly flat in early pre-market trade, ahead of wholesale trade data. Data on wholesale trade for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Shares of Apple

AAPL

fell 2.61% in pre-market trading as the company unveiled two new iPhones yesterday. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4 points to 15,177.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.40 points to 1,682.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 6.75 points to 3,176.00.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index surging 0.67%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.07% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.31%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.51% and French CAC 40 Index gained 0.07%. UK unemployment rate dropped to 7.7% between May and July, versus 7.8% in the period from February to April. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.15%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.01%. Australia's ASX/S&P500 gained 0.61% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.17% and India's Sensex rose 0.36 points.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Apple

AAPL

from “buy” to “neutral.” The target price for Apple is set to $520. Apple's shares closed at $494.64 yesterday.

Breaking news

Merck MRK, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and AstraZeneca AZN today announced a worldwide licensing agreement for Merck's oral small molecule inhibitor of WEE1 kinase (MK-1775). To read the full news, click here.
Pluristem Therapeutics PSTI announced today that the company has completed a major step in its intellectual property strategy: the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted the Company U.S. Patent 8,529,888. To read the full news, click here.
Bristow Group BRS announced today that it has secured several new multi-year oil and gas contracts for the provision of a total of 12 large and three medium helicopters that are expected to generate up to $850 million in revenue. To read the full news, click here.
The Western Union Company WU today significantly expanded into China's banking channel, paving the way for international direct-to-bank remittances into China from 23 countries while also expanding its international Account-Based Money Transfer service. To read the full news, click here.

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