US Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of Economic Data

US 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.

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%.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded Huntsman

from “neutral” to “buy.” The target price for Huntsman has been raised from $22 to $29. Huntsman's shares closed at $22.49 yesterday.