A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on housing starts for October will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 120 points to 24,909, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 14 points to 2,682.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dipped 61.5 points to 6,610.50.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures fell 0.10 percent to trade at $66.72 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.24 percent to trade at $57.34 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.98 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.49 percent and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.69 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.05 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.62 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.09 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 2.02 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index dipped 2.13 percent and India’s BSE Sensex declined 0.84 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Raymond James downgraded Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc SPB from Outperform to Market Perform.

Spectrum Brands shares fell 0.1 percent to $48.00 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Hormel Foods Corp HRL reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed views.
• Target Corporation CFX announced weaker-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.
• Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, but issued weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.
• Medtronic PLC MDT reported upbeat results for its second quarter.