US Stock Futures Dip Ahead Of Jobless Claims, Wholesale Inventories Data

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while wholesale inventories data for May will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 151 points to 16,762.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 18.70 points to 1,948.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index tumbled 37 points to 3,848.50.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 2.65%, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1.35%. German DAX 30 index fell 1.51%, French CAC 40 Index declined 1.72% and London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.87%. French consumer prices remained unchanged in June versus May, while industrial production dropped 1.7% in May versus April. Italy's industrial production declined 1.2% on the month in May. The UK's trade in goods deficit widened to GBP9.2 billion in May versus a deficit of GBP8.8 billion in April. Euro-zone house prices slipped by 0.3% in the second quarter versus the final three months of 2013. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.56%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.27%, China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 0.01% and India's BSE Sensex dipped 0.28%. China's exports increased 7.2% y/y in June, while imports surged 5.5%.

Analysts at Jefferies downgraded UnitedHealth Group

from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for UnitedHealth is set to $87. UnitedHealth's shares closed at $82.74 yesterday.