US Stock Futures Mixed Ahead Of Housing-Market Report

US stock futures traded mixed in early pre-market trade. The Empire State manufacturing index for February will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the NAHB housing market index for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 11 points to 17,971.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 2.40 points to 2,091.10. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 4.75 points to 4,381.75.

European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.12%, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.09% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.33%. French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.16% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.42%. UK's annual inflation shrank to 0.3% in January, versus 0.5% in December. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.10%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.24% and China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.76%.

Analysts at Cowen & Company downgraded

from Outperform to Market Perform. Sotheby's shares fell 4.25% to $42.98 in pre-market trading.