US Stock Futures Mixed Ahead Of Jobless Claims Data

US stock futures traded mixed in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while wholesale inventories data for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 17 points to 16,886.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 0.20 points to 1,962.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 3.50 points to 4,034.00.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.02%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.54%. German DAX 30 index climbed 1.06%, French CAC 40 Index rose 0.32% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.33%. France's trade deficit widened to EUR5.78 billion in August, from EUR5.53 billion in July. German exports declined 5.8% on the month in August, while imports dropped 1.3% on the month. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.75%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.17%, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 0.28% and India's BSE Sensex climbed 1.49%.

Analysts at Oppenheimer upgraded Apple

from Market Perform to Outperform. Apple's shares closed at $100.80 yesterday.