US Stock Futures Fall Ahead Of Economic Data

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. The Markit PMI services index for July will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the ISM non-manufacturing index for July and factory orders data for June will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 27 points to 16,459.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 4.60 points to 1,927.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 8.50 points to 3,888.25.

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.15%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.54%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.48%, French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.64% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.36%. Spain's Markit services PMI surged to 56.2 in July from 54.8 in June. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.20%, China's Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.15% and India's Sensex climbed 0.72%. The HSBC China services PMI declined to 50.0 in July, versus 53.1 in June, while the HSBC Hong Kong PMI rose to 50.4 in July versus 50.1 in June.

Analysts at BB&T Capital downgraded Pike Electric

from Buy to Hold and removed the price target of $12.00. Pike Electric's shares surged 48.62% to close at $11.83 yesterday.