US Stock Futures Tumble Ahead Of Jobless Claims Report

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Markit PMI services index for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for March will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 111 points to 17,538.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 12.60 points to 2,041.15. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index tumbled 43.20 points to 4,280.30.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.92%, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 1.46% and German DAX 30 index dropping 1.57%. French CAC 40 Index slipped 1.30% and London's FTSE 100 Index fell 1.23%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average slipped 1.39%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.13%, China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.58% and India's BSE Sensex slipped 2.33%.

Analysts at BMO Capital downgraded

from Outperform to Market Perform and raised the price target from $69.00 to $88.00. Kraft Foods shares fell 1.41% to $82.00 in pre-market trading.