US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Earnings

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day meeting today. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for February will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index for April and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index for April will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 70.50 points to 17,919.50, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 7.80 points to 2,096.95. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 5.85 points to 4,518.90.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.34 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 1.43 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 1.33 percent. French CAC 40 Index slipped 1.71 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index fell 1.10 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.38 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.13 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.03 percent and India's BSE Sensex rose 0.81 percent.

Analysts at RBC Capital downgraded

from Outperform to Sector Perform and raised the price target from $42.00 to $48.00. IGATE shares rose 3.29 percent to close at $47.36 yesterday.