US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Earnings, Economic Data

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 manufacturing index (flash) for April will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. Data on New home sales for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 55.50 points to 17,889.50, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 6.10 points to 2,094.15. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 9.95 points to 4,435.30.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.68 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.79 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 1.38 percent. French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.97 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.05 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.27 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.36 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.38 percent and India's BSE Sensex fell 0.56 percent.

Analysts at Jefferies upgraded

from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $190.00 to $193.00. Time Warner Cable shares fell 2.77 percent to $145.50 in pre-market trading.