US Stock Futures Flat Ahead of Consumer Confidence, House Prices Data

US stock futures were flat in early pre-market trade on the last trading day for 2013. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for October will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET, while the Chicago PMI for December will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat at 16,439.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures gained 1.10 points to 1,835.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 2 points to 3,567.75.

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.10%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.32% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.23%. French CAC 40 Index gained 0.33%. Asian markets ended higher today. China's Shanghai Composite surged 0.88% and India's BSE Sensex rose 0.13%.

Analysts at Benchmark downgraded Haemonetics

from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Haemonetics has been lowered from $49 to $46. Haemonetics shares closed at $42.54 yesterday.