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. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 75 points to 26,810, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 7.4 points to 2,983.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 37.5 points to 7,814.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.2% to trade at $64.11 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.3% to trade at $57.35 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.4%, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.1% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.3%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.1%, while French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.2%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.98%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 1.54%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.58% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 2.01%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Rosenblatt downgraded Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) from Neutral to Sell.

Apple shares fell 1.8 percent to $200.65 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• AZZ Inc (NYSE: AZZ) reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.
• Encana Corp (NYSE: ECA) agreed to sell its Arkoma Basin natural gas assets for $165 million.
• Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) shares climbed around 6% in pre-market trading after Bloomberg reported Sunday that Broadcom has secured financing for acquisition.
• Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) raised its acquisition offer for CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE: CIR) to $48 per share cash from $45 per share.