A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down; Dow Futures Fall Over 200 Points

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. The U.S. Treasury budget report for July will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 227 points to 26,041 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 25 points to 2,894.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 72.75 points to 7,587.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $58.11 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.3% to trade at $53.79 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.7%, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.2% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.2%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.6%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.4%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.44%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.44%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.45% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.68%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Humana Inc HUM from Neutral to Overweight and raised the price target from $300 to $345.

Humana shares rose 0.9 percent to close at $297.78 on Friday.

Breaking News

• Ceragon Networks Ltd CRNT reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.
• Stifel Financial Corp SF announced plans to acquire George K. Baum & Company.
• Globant SA GLOB reported the purchase of Belatrix Software.
• Quotient Technology Inc QUOT reported a $50 million buyback plan.