US Stock Futures Flat Ahead Of Fed

US stock futures were mostly flat in early pre-market trade. The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its 2-day meeting today. The consumer price index for November and the current account data for the third quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The NAHB housing market index for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 2 points to 15,825.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 1 point to 1,779.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 1.25 points to 3,468.75.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.13%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.34% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.31%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.35% and French CAC 40 Index declined 0.77%. Euro-zone annual rate of inflation climbed to 0.9% in November versus 0.7%, while UK's annual rate of inflation declined to 2.1% in November versus 2.2% in October. German economic expectations indicator surged to 62.0 points in December, versus 54.6 points in November, according to the ZEW sentiment survey. Asian markets ended mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surged 0.83%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.45%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.20% and India's BSE Sensex tumbled 0.23%.

Analysts at Bank of America upgraded The Finish Line

from “underperform” to “buy.” The target price for Finish Line has been raised from $22 to $30. Finish Line's shares closed at $25.41 yesterday.