A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Trade Lower; European Markets Decline

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY. The Employment Cost Index, Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Jobless Claims are all scheduled to be released at 7:30 a.m. ET, while the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) will be reported at 8:45 a.m. ET. The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage report will be released at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 88 points to 27,043, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 11 points to 3,036.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index were down 24 points to 8,086.75.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $59.87 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.62% to trade at $54.41 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets
European markets fell today, with the Spanish Ibex Index down 0.3%, STOXX Europe 600 Index losing 0.4% and German DAX 30 index down 0.3%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 1.0%, while French CAC 40 Index had fallen 0.5%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.9%, while India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.2%.

Broker Recommendation
Analysts at UBS maintained a Buy rating on Apple Inc. AAPL, while raising the price target from $275 to $280.

Apple shares rose 1.6% to $247.20 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Dynatrace, Inc. DT shares rose in pre-market trading, after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings results.
• FLIR Systems FLIR reported its Q3 earnings ahead of the consensus estimate, but announced disappointing sales for the quarter.
• Intercontinental Exchange ICE reported a earnings and sales beat for its third quarter.
• Manning & Napier MN reported its quarterly earnings and sales higher than the consensus estimates.