A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Decline Ahead Of Jobs Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. The Challenger job-cut report for June is scheduled for release at 7:30 a.m. ET, while the ADP national employment report for June will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 23 points to 17,819.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 3.50 points to 2,091.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 5.50 points to 4,436.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.90 percent to trade at $49.29 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also gained 0.97 percent to trade at $47.94 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks and petroleum inventories will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 1 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 1.35 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.80 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.96 percent, while French CAC 40 Index gained 1.21 percent. U.K. industrial production slipped 0.5 percent in May, while Germany's industrial production declined 1.3 percent in May. France's trade deficit shrank to 2.8 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in May, compared to EUR4.8 billion in April.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.67 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.03 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.01 percent and India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.13 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded Red Hat Inc RHT from Overweight to Equal Weight.

Red Hat shares rose 1.25 percent to close at $72.18 on Wednesday.

Breaking news

• PepsiCo Inc. PEP announced a 1 percent increase in profit for the second quarter driven by 1.15 percentage points expansion in gross margin as revenue witnessed a downtick of 3.3 percent. However, core earnings and revenue came in more than analysts estimated. To read the full news, click here.



• Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ IONS) announced today positive results from two ongoing trials with IONIS-TTRRx. To read the full news, click here.



• France-based Danone announced on Thursday it will acquire WhiteWave Foods Co WWAV for $56.25 per share in a deal that values the U.S. organic food producer at $12.5 billion including debt. To read the full news, click here.



• Avast Software announced plans to acquire AVG Technologies NV AVG for $1.3 billion in cash.