US Stock Futures Slip Ahead Of Housing-Starts Data - Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG), Curis (NASDAQ:CRIS)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on housing starts for December will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 54 points to 17,407.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 3.80 points to 2,013.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 8.50 points to 4,158.50.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.27%, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.04% and German DAX 30 index falling 0.19%. French CAC 40 Index declined 0.24% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.70%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.49%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.68%, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 4.74% and India's Sensex jumped 0.36%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT

from Overweight to Equal-weight. Wal-Mart's shares closed at $86.69 yesterday.

Breaking news

Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH gained around 1.9% in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. To read the full news, click here.
Diamondback Energy FANG announced today the launch of an underwritten public offering of 1,500,000 shares of its common stock, subject to market and other conditions. To read the full news, click here.
Curis, Inc. CRIS and Aurigene Discovery Technologies Limited today announced that they have entered into an exclusive collaboration agreement focused on immuno-oncology and selected precision oncology targets. To read the full news, click here.
Netflix, Inc. NFLX reported fourth quarter 2014 financial results Tuesday. Total revenue came in at at $1.483 billion, inline with estimates of $1.48 billion and above the $962 million reported in the prior year period. To read the full news, click here.

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