US Stock Futures Tumble Ahead Of Economic Data

US stock futures dropped in early pre-market trading, ahead of economic data. Data on motor vehicle sales for February will be released today. Data on consumer spending for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the PMI manufacturing index for February will be released at 8:58 a.m. ET. The ISM manufacturing composite index for February and construction spending data for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 145 points to 16,162.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 19.80 points to 1,837.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 39.50 points to 3,655.75.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 2.03%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 1.70% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1.95%. German DAX 30 index fell 2.66% and French CAC 40 Index declined 2.37%. Euro-zone PMI for manufacturing dropped to 53.2 in February versus 54.0 in the earlier month. UK's manufacturing PMI climbed to 56.9 in February versus 56.6 in January. Asian markets ended mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 1.27%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.47%, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.92% and India's BSE Index tumbled 0.82%. Japan's domestic auto sales rose 15% y/y in February. The HSBC China manufacturing PMI declined to 48.5 in February versus 49.5 in January.

Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded RPM International

from “neutral” to “outperform.” The price target for RPM International has been raised from $47 to $50. RPM's shares closed at $41.86 yesterday.