US Stock Futures Drop Ahead Of GDP, Jobless Claims Data

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. Data on GDP growth for the second quarter and weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The pending home sales index for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for August will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 37 points to 17,056.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 4.60 points to 1,992.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 8.25 points to 4,064.50.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.98%, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.66%. German DAX 30 index dropped 1.18%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.61% and London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.38%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.48%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.71%, China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.62% and India's Sensex gained 0.29%.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded Williams-Sonoma

from Overweight to Equalweight. The target price for Brown Forman has been lowered from $82 to $74. Williams-Sonoma's shares closed at $74.89 yesterday.