US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on import and export prices for September will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 79 points to 16,531.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 8.70 points to 1,916.20. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dipped 35.75 points to 3,934.50.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.07%, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 1.57%. German DAX 30 index slipped 2.02%, French CAC 40 Index fell 1.46% and London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 1.28%. Italy's industrial production increased 0.3% on the month in August. French industrial production came in unchanged in August versus July. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 1.15%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.90%, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.62% and India's BSE Sensex dipped 1.28%.

Analysts at Mizuho Securities downgraded Auxilium Pharmaceuticals

from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $37.00 to $33.00. Auxilium Pharma shares jumped 9.01% to close at $32.44 yesterday.