A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Down; Crude Oil Drops 2.7%

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for July is schedule for release at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 51 points to 18,489.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 4.50 points to 2,176.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 9.50 points to 4,796.75.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures declined 3.03 percent to trade at $49.34 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also fell 2.7 percent to trade at $47.79 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.22 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.10 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.63 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.53 percent, while French CAC 40 Index declined 0.27 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.32 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.26 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.75 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.33 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded L Brands Inc LB from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $73.00 to $94.00.

L Brands shares rose 0.99 percent to $78.53 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Pfizer Inc PFE and Medivation Inc. MDVN struck a definitive deal through which the former would buy the latter for $81.50 a share in cash. The total enterprise value of the transaction is about $14 billion. To read the full news, click here.



• CST Brands Inc CST agreed to be acquired by Alimentation Couche-Tard for $48.53 per share in cash. To read the full news, click here.



• CIFC LLC CIFC agreed to be acquired by F.A.B. Partners for $333 million in cash. To read the full news, click here.