US Stock Futures Decline Ahead Of Home Sales Report - AutoZone (NYSE:AZO)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while existing home sales data for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 30 points to 17,182.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 5.70 points to 1,998.10. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 12.25 points to 4,080.75.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.06%, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.25%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.10%, French CAC 40 Index surged 0.01% and London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.38%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.71%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.44%, China's Shanghai Composite Index declined 1.70% and India's BSE Sensex gained 0.43%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Yahoo! Inc.

YHOO

from Buy to Neutral. Oracle's shares fell 1.98% to $40.12 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

AutoZone AZO reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter profit. To read the full news, click here.
Auxilium Pharmaceuticals AUXL today announced that its Board of Directors has reviewed the unsolicited, non-binding and conditional proposal from Endo International plc ENDP and, after consulting with its independent financial and legal advisors, has unanimously determined it is not a superior proposal under the terms of its existing merger agreement with QLT and has unanimously reaffirmed its recommendation that Auxilium's stockholders vote in favor of the adoption of such merger agreement. To read the full news, click here.
CytRx CYTR today announced that study designs and progress from two of the Company's key clinical trials of aldoxorubicin, a pivotal global Phase 3 clinical trial in relapsed/refractory soft tissue sarcomas (STS) and a global Phase 2b clinical trial in small cell lung cancer, will be presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2014 Congress being held September 26-30, in Madrid, Spain. To read the full news, click here.
Dresser-Rand Group DRC today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Siemens under which Siemens will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Dresser-Rand common stock for $83.00 per share in cash. To read the full news, click here.

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