A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Down; McDonald's Earnings In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from McDonald's Corporation MCD. Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo is set to speak in New York at 10:15 a.m. ET, while San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will speak in San Francisco at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 61 points to 18,047.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 7 points to 2,130.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 7 points to 4,836.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 0.60 percent to trade at $51.69 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 0.43 percent to trade at $50.85 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.05 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.01 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.01 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.35 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.16 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.30 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.30 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.21 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.19 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Jefferies downgraded Yahoo! Inc. YHOO from Buy to Hold.

Yahoo! shares fell 0.82 percent to close at $42.38 on Thursday.

Breaking news

• General Electric Company GE reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, but revenue fell shy of the expectations.



• Microsoft Corporation MSFT reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Thursday. To read the full news, click here.



• Honeywell International Inc. HON reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter.



• Paypal Holdings Inc PYPL reported in-line earnings for its third quarter, while revenue beat analysts’ estimates. To read the full news, click here.