US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Jobless Claims

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 pending home sales index for April will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 58.50 points to 18,082.50, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 5.55 points to 2,115.45. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 8.85 points to 4,533.40.

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.15 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.32 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.38 percent. French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.54 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.11 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.39 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped 6.50 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 2.23 percent and India's BSE Sensex fell 0.21 percent.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded General Motors Company

from Underweight to Equalweight and maintained the price target of $28.00. General Motors shares rose 0.70 percent to $36.06 in pre-market trading.