US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Earnings, Jobless Claims

US stock futures are slightly lower this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings reports. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 23 points to 13,017.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 2.70 points to 1,384.50. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 6 points to 2,698.50. US stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.69% to 13,090.72, the S&P 500 index rising 1.36% to 1,390.69 and the Nasdaq 100 index surging 2.30% to 3,029.63. Data on weekly jobless claims data will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Chicago Fed's national activity index for March will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on March pending home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Colgate-Palmolive Co CL is estimated to post its Q1 EPS at $1.24 on revenue of $4.18 billion. Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $2.09 per share on revenue of $124.76 billion. Amazon.com Inc AMZN is projected to post its quarterly earnings at $0.08 per share on revenue of $12.90 billion. United Parcel Service Inc UPS is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $1.02 on revenue of $13.26 billion. Pepsico Inc PEP is projected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.67 on revenue of $12.36 billion. Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT is projected to post its Q1 EPS at $1.70 on revenue of $10.56 billion. Starbucks Corporation SBUX is estimated to post its quarterly earnings at $0.39 per share on revenue of $3.18 billion. MetLife Inc MET is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $1.28 on revenue of $16.67 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company BMY is projected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.63 on revenue of $5.26 billion. The Dow Chemical Company DOW is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.60 on revenue of $15.01 billion. Kellogg Company K is estimated to post its Q2 earnings at $0.90 per share on revenue of $3.41 billion. Safeway Inc SWY is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.30 on revenue of $10.06 billion. Ancestry.com Inc ACOM reported upbeat Q1 earnings and agreed to buy privately held Archives.com for $100 million. Akamai Technologies Inc AKAM reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for first quarter. However, the company issued downbeat profit forecast for second quarter. European markets were mostly lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.28%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.04%, French CAC 40 index fell 0.63% and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.66%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.01%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.09% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.25%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.79% and India's Sensex fell 0.12%. Nymex crude oil futures dropped $0.23 to $103.89 a barrel in electronic trade. However, gold futures gained $5.90 to $1,648.20 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) declined 0.09% to 78.99, versus 79.072. The euro fell to $1.3214, from $1.3220 in North American trade late Wednesday. The US dollar declined 0.61% versus the Japanese yen to trade at ¥80.8450, versus ¥81.45.