US Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of Economic Data

Pre-open moversUS stock futures declined in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. Data on housing starts will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the FHFA house price index and the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 12 points to 16,050.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.90 points to 1,801.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 1.50 points to 3,427.50. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.15%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.42% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.33%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.02% and French CAC 40 Index declined 0.24%. Italian consumer confidence index surged to 98.3 in November, versus 97.3 in October.Asian markets ended lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.67%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.14%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.01% and India's BSE Sensex tumbled 0.87%.Broker RecommendationAnalysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) from “neutral” to “buy.” The target price for Huntsman has been raised from $22 to $29. Huntsman's shares closed at $22.49 yesterday. Breaking news

• LDK Solar Co (NYSE: LDK) posted a narrower loss in the third quarter. LDK Solar posted a quarterly net loss of $127 million, or $0.65 per American Depositary Share, versus a year-ago loss of $136.9 million, or $1.08 per ADS. To read the full news, click here.
• Microsemi (NASDAQ: MSCC) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, PETT Acquisition, successfully completed its previously announced tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Symmetricom (NASDAQ: SYMM) for $7.18 per share in cash. To read the full news, click here.
• Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL) announced today that Gemalto, world leader in digital security present in 43 countries with more than 10,000 employees, has appointed the firm as adviser for its worldwide real estate operations. To read the full news, click here.
• Wi-LAN (NASDAQ: WILN) today announced that it has acquired a portfolio of semiconductor patents from IXYS CH GmbH related to microcontroller technology. To read the full news, click here.