US Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of Earnings

US stock futures declined in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Facebook

and Apple

. The Markit PMI manufacturing index (flash) for April will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while new home sales data for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6 points to 16,452.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 1.90 points to 1,872.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 6.75 points to 3,578.25.

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.15%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.14% and STOXX Europe 600 Index slipping 0.37%. German DAX 30 index declined 0.29% and French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.40%. German preliminary composite PMI climbed to 56.3 in April versus 54.3 in March. Euro-zone composite PMI surged to 54.0 in April versus 53.1 in March. Asian markets ended mixed today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.09%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.97%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.26% and India's BSE Sensex rose 0.52%. The preliminary reading of China's PMI increased to 48.3 in April versus 48.0 in the previous month, HSBC reported.

Analysts at Compass Point downgraded Brown & Brown

from “buy” to “neutral.” The target price for Brown & Brown has been lowered from $36 to $33. Brown & Brown's shares closed at $28.91 yesterday.