US Stock Futures Flat; Darden Posts Weak Earnings

US stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade, ahead of jobless claims data. The Atlanta Fed's Business Inflation Expectations survey for June will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1 point to 16,832.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 0.10 points to 1,950.40. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 1.25 points to 3,790.25.

European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.24%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.15%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.82%, French CAC 40 Index fell 0.02% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.31%. German producer prices rose 0.12% on the month in May. The euro zone's current-account surplus widened to 21.5 billion euros ($29.26 billion) in April, versus a revised surplus of EUR19.6 billion in March. Italian industrial orders increased 3.8% in April versus March. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.08%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.11%, China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.15% and India's BSE Sensex tumbled 0.38%.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank downgraded Pier 1 Imports

from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Pier 1 has been lowered from $24 to $18. Pier 1's shares closed at $15.86 yesterday.