A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Slightly Lower Ahead Of Economic Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week and the Philadelphia Fed general conditions index for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley is set to speak in New York at 10:00 a.m. ET. The index of leading indicators for July is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Anchorage, Alaska at 4:00 p.m. ET, while Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak in Dallas at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6 points to 18,535.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 2 points to 2,177.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 5.75 points to 4,798.25.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures declined 0.12 percent to trade at $49.82 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 0.56 percent to trade at $47.06 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.16 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.50 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.36 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.04 percent, while French CAC 40 Index gained 0.08 percent. The French jobless rate dropped to 9.9 percent in the second quarter, compared to 10.2 percent in the prior quarter.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.55 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.98 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.17 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.52 percent. Japanese exports declined 14.0 percent year-over-year to 5.728 trillion yen ($57 billion) in July, while imports shrank 24.7 percent to Y5.215 trillion.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Evercore ISI Group downgraded Twitter Inc TWTR from Hold to Sell and lowers the price target from $18.00 to $17.00.

Twitter shares fell 2.53 percent to $19.66 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT reported better-than-expected EPS and revenue for the second quarter. The company updated its EPS forecast for the full year. To read the full news, click here.



• Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter, but issued a weak earnings forecast for the current quarter. Cisco also said it will reduce its current 73,104 person workforce by up to 5,500. To read the full news, click here.



• Hormel Foods Corporation HRL released its financial results for the third quarter that exceeded the Street estimates. The company also boosted its forecast for the fiscal year above expectations. To read the full news, click here.



• NetApp Inc. NTAP reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal first quarter on Wednesday. To read the full news, click here.