A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Mostly Flat; Crude Oil Drops

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 6 points to 23,482.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 1 point to 2,585.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 1.75 points to 6,317.75.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.17 percent to trade at $63.58 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures declined 0.30 percent to trade at $57.03 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.31 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index slipping 0.23 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.10 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.07 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.24 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.10 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.30 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.06 percent and India’s BSE Sensex dropped 0.46 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at RBC Capital downgraded Snap Inc SNAP from Outperform to Sector Perform.

Snap shares dropped 6.22 percent to $14.18 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Humana Inc HUM reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter and raised its FY17 forecast.



• Snap Inc SNAP reported weaker-than-expected sales for third quarter. Daily active users were up 17 percent year-over-year.



• Fossil Group Inc FOSL reported a third-quarter GAAP loss of $0.11 per share, versus $0.36 per share in the same quarter of last year.



• Take Two Interactive Software Inc TTWO posted a Q2 net loss of $2.7 million, versus a year-earlier profit of $36.4 million. However, the company issued a strong revenue forecast for the current quarter and lifted its full-year adjusted revenue outlook.