US Stock Futures Drop; Alcoa Earnings In Focus - Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures fell in early pre-market trading. Alcoa

is expected to release its quarterly earnings after the closing bell. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for March will be released at 7:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 36 points to 16,142.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 3.90 points to 1,834.20. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 5.25 points to 3,494.00.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.99%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 1.03% and STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.95%. German DAX 30 index tumbled 1.15% and French CAC 40 Index fell 0.99%. France's trade deficit declined to EUR3.4 billion in February, versus EUR5.7 billion, in the year-ago period. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.36%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.98% and China's Shanghai Composite surged 1.92%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Wunderlich downgraded Cisco Systems

CSCO

from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Cisco has been lowered from $25 to $24. Cisco's shares fell 0.17% to $47.03 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

Oncolytics Biotech ONCY today announced additional data from the Company's randomized, double-blinded clinical study examining REOLYSIN in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel in patients with second-line, platinum-refractory, taxane-naïve head and neck cancers (REO 018). To read the full news, click here.
IMAX IMAX today announced the investment in its Greater China business by CMC Capital Partners (CMC), China's leading investment fund that is run by Ruigang Li and focused on media and entertainment, and FountainVest Partners (FountainVest), a leading China-focused private equity firm. To read the full news, click here.
Stemline Therapeutics STML announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the company's Investigational New Drug (IND) application for SL-701, which enables the company to advance SL-701 into a Phase 2 trial of adults with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in first recurrence. To read the full news, click here.
Samsung Electronics Co SSNLF forecast a drop in its operating profit for the three months ended March 31. To read the full news, click here.

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