US Stock Futures Flat Ahead Of Economic Data

Pre-open movers US stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. The FHFA house price index and the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for July will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4 points to 15,330.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.50 points to 1,692.20. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 5 points to 3,214.00. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.32%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.10% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.10%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.11% and French CAC 40 Index surged 0.52%. Asian markets ended mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.07%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.61% and Australia's ASX/S&P500 dropped 0.31%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.82% and India's Sensex gained 0.10%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Citigroup upgraded Facebook FB from “neutral” to “buy.” The target price for Facebook has been raised from $32 to $55. Facebook's shares gained 1.63% to $47.96 in pre-market trading. Breaking news

• Lennar LEN reported a 39% rise in its third-quarter net profit. Lennar's quarterly net profit surged to $120.7 million, or $0.54 per share, from $87.1 million, or $0.40 per share, in the year-ago period. To read the full news, click here.
• Sanofi SNY announced today new GetGoal-L sub-analysis results showing that reductions in HbA1c with Lyxumia® (lixisenatide), when added to basal insulin, were greatest in patients with type 2 diabetes who had well-controlled baseline fasting plasma glucose (FPG). To read the full news, click here.
• ICF International ICFI has been awarded a re-compete contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) and Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) support. To read the full news, click here.
• National Oilwell Varco NOV announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized Company management to move forward with exploration of a plan to spin-off NOV's distribution business from the remainder of the Company, creating two stand-alone, publicly traded corporations. To read the full news, click here.