US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Industrial Production Data

US stock futures are lower this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 44 points to 12,478.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 4.90 points to 1,346.40. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 7 points to 2,515.00. US stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.23% to 12,542.38, the S&P 500 index falling 0.16% to 1,353.33 and the Nasdaq 100 index declining 0.35% to 2,836.94. Data on industrial production for October will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET. Foot Locker FL is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.54 per share on revenue of $1.47 billion. ANN ANN is expected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.75 per share on revenue of $606.54 million. Hibbett Sports HIBB is projected to report its Q3 EPS at $0.68 on revenue of $201.74 million. The J. M. Smucker Company SJM is estimated to report its Q2 EPS at $1.45 on revenue of $1.63 billion. Sirona Dental Systems SIRO is projected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.71 on revenue of $224.81 million. Dell DELL reported a 47% decline in its FQ3 profit. Gap GPS reported a 60% rise in its third-quarter profit and raised its earnings forecast for fiscal year 2012. Sears Holdings SHLD reported a narrower-than-expected third-quarter loss. However, its sales dropped 6% to $8.86 billion. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.37%, London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.68%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.44% and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.53%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 2.20%, China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.77% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.24%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.24% and India's Sensex dropped 0.88%. Crude-oil futures dropped $0.26 to trade at $85.19 a barrel in electronic trade. However, gold futures fell $3.90 to $1,709.90 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) gained 0.24% to trade at 81.22, up from 81.053 in North American trade late Thursday. The euro dropped to $1.2729 against the US dollar, versus $1.2756. The dollar fell 0.03% against the Japanese yen to trade at ¥ 81.1450, down from ¥81.19 late Thursday.