US Stock Futures Flat Ahead Of Jobless Claims

US stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6 points to 17,655.0, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 1.25 points to 2,070.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 1.88 points to 4,633.62.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 1 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.56 percent and German DAX 30 index declining 0.0494 percent. French CAC 40 Index dipped 1.04 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.55 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock jumped 0.03 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 2.40 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.48 percent.

Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded

from Outperform to Neutral. The price target for Freshpet has been lowered from $19 to $9. Freshpet shares closed at $8.37 on Wednesday.