US Stock Futures Down As Investors Await Jobless Claims Data, GM Earnings

US stock futures are lower this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings from General Motors Co GM and weekly jobless claims data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 44 points to 11,774.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 5.20 points to 1,249.30. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 11.00 points to 2,291.50. US stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.25% to 11,896.44, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.50% to 1,260.34 and the Nasdaq 100 index surging 0.89% to 2,693.07. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. General Motors Company is projected to report its Q2 EPS at $1.20 on revenue of $36.71 billion. DIRECTV DTV is projected to report its Q2 EPS at $0.85 on revenue of $6.54 billion. Fortune Brands Inc FO is estimated to report its Q2 EPS at $0.98 on revenue of $1.94 billion. Alpha Natural Resources Inc ANR is expected to report its Q2 EPS at $1.12 on revenue of $1.47 billion. Kraft Foods Inc KFT is projected to report its Q2 EPS at $0.58 on revenue of $13.15 billion. Southwest Airlines Company LUV is expected to report its Q2 EPS at $0.20 on revenue of $4.16 billion. Cardinal Health Inc CAH is projected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.58 on revenue of $26.13 billion. CVS Caremark Corporation CVS is estimated to report its Q2 earnings at $0.64 per share on revenue of $26.76 billion. Zumiez Inc ZUMZ reported a 4.9% rise in its July sales at stores open at least one year. However, analysts were expecting an increase of 7.5%. Activision Blizzard Inc ATVI reported its Q2 profit at $335 million, or $0.29 per share, up from $219 million, or $0.17 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Activision Blizzard's adjusted profit came in at $0.10 per share. Its revenue came in at $699 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of 0.05 per share on revenue of $599.32 million. The European Central Bank is expected to leave its interest rates on hold. European markets were mostly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.09%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.60%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.31% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.48%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.1952%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 1.26% and China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.21%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.4910% and India's Sensex dipped 1.41%. The US dollar surged 3.6% versus the Japanese yen to trade at ¥79.93. The dollar index jumped 1.32% to 74.89.