A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of ADP Report

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade. The ADP national employment report for February is schedule for release at 8:15 a.m. ET, while data on nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs for the fourth quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on wholesale trade for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 9 points to 20,904.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 1.25 points to 2,365.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 1.75 points to 5,348.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures dropped 1 percent to trade at $55.36 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.07 percent to trade at $52.57 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.08 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.20 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.19 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.21 percent, while French CAC 40 Index dropped 0.29 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.47 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.43 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.05 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.34 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at William Blair downgraded Urban Outfitters, Inc. URBN from Outperform to Market Perform.

Urban Outfitters shares fell 6.93 percent to $23.65 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Express, Inc. EXPR reported in-line earnings for its fourth quarter, but issued a weak outlook for the current quarter.



• Bob Evans Farms Inc BOBE posted in-line earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed expectations. The company also raised its earnings forecast for fiscal 2017.



• Urban Outfitters, Inc. URBN reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.



• Childrens Place Inc PLCE posted better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.