US Stock Futures Edge Lower; Crude Oil Drops - Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Crude oil futures dipped 2.90% to trade at $54.29 a barrel. The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to begin its 2-day policy meeting today. Data on housing starts for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Markit PMI manufacturing index for December will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 14 points to 17,111.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 2.20 points to 1,981.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 9.50 points to 4,150.75.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.58%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.05%. German DAX 30 index climbed 0.26%, French CAC 40 Index rose 0.05% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 1%. UK consumer prices increased 1% in November, versus a 1.3% growth in October. Eurozone's composite PMI climbed to 51.7 in December, versus 51.1 in November. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 2.01%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.55%, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 2.31% and India's Sensex slipped 1.97%. THE preliminary version of HSBC monthly manufacturing PMI dropped to 49.5 in December, versus a final reading of 50.0 in November.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Microsoft

MSFT

from Neutral to Underperform. The price target for Microsoft is set to $47. Microsoft's shares fell 0.90% to $46.25 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

Encana ECA today announced a highly focused 2015 capital program of between $2.7 billion and $2.9 billion, with approximately 80 percent directed to four of its highest margin growth plays; the Montney, Duvernay, Eagle Ford and Permian. To read the full news, click here.
Clean Energy Fuels CLNE today announced it will design, build and operate a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA). To read the full news, click here.
Novartis NVS announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Signifor® long-acting release (LAR)* (pasireotide) for injectable suspension, for intramuscular use, for the treatment of patients with acromegaly who have had an inadequate response to surgery and/or for whom surgery is not an option. To read the full news, click here.
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals OGXI announced today that patient enrollment has been completed in the Rainier™ clinical trial, an investigator-sponsored, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial evaluating apatorsen in combination with ABRAXANE® (paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injectable suspension)(albumin-bound) and gemcitabine in patients with previously untreated metastatic pancreatic cancer. To read the full news, click here.

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