US Stock Futures Down; All Eyes On FOMC Minutes

US stock futures dropped in early pre-market trading. Data on housing starts and the producer price index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 55 points to 16,052.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 6.70 points to 1,830.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 8.25 points to 3,666.75.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.73%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.29% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.35%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.34% and French CAC 40 Index tumbled 0.35%. UK's joblessness rate climbed to 7.2% in the three months ending December. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.52%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.34%, China's Shanghai Composite Index surged 1.11% and India's BSE Sensex surged 0.43%.

Analysts at Wunderlich downgraded Waste Management

from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Waste Management has been lowered from $52 to $45. Waste Management's shares closed at $41.72 yesterday.