US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Fed Minutes

Pre-open movers 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 Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 69 points to 16,745.0, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 7.75 points to 1,979.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 18.25 points to 4,305.50. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.34 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.05 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.05 percent. French CAC 40 Index fell 0.09 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.25 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.99 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.71 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.97 percent and India's BSE Sensex fell 0.70 percent. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded Yum! Brands, Inc. YUM from Underperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $86.00 to $75.00. Yum Brands shares fell 18.18 percent to close at $67.67 yesterday. Breaking news

• Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. NBIX announced today that NBI-98854, a highly selective small molecule VMAT2 inhibitor, showed a statistically significant reduction in tardive dyskinesia during the six weeks of placebo-controlled treatment in the Kinect 3 clinical trial. To read the full news, click here.
• BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. BCRX today announced that the randomized, placebo-controlled, Phase 1 clinical trial of orally-administered BCX7353 in healthy volunteers successfully met all of its objectives. To read the full news, click here.
• IMAX Corporation IMAX and Omnijoi Cinema Development Co., Ltd. (Omnijoi Cinemas), formerly known as Jiangsu Eudemonia Blue Ocean Cinema Development Co., Ltd., today announced an expansion of the parties' revenue sharing arrangement with the addition of 15 new IMAX® theatre systems in China. To read the full news, click here.
• Boston Scientific Corporation BSX today announced that it has closed on an additional round of financing with MValve Technologies Ltd., a developer of a percutaneous mitral valve replacement system, designed to work with the Boston Scientific LOTUS™ Valve, creating a unique mitral regurgitation (MR) treatment solution. To read the full news, click here.