US Stock Futures Down As Investors Await Fed Decision

US stock futures are lower this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 25 points to 13,336.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 3 points to 1,436.50. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 9.75 points to 2,786.50. US stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.07% to 13,333.35, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.21% to 1,436.56 and the Nasdaq 100 index rising 0.32% to 3,114.31. Data on weekly jobless claims and August producer prices will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Fed is scheduled to announce its policy decision at 12:30 p.m. ET. Pier 1 Imports PIR is expected to report its Q2 earnings at $0.19 per share on revenue of $368 million. Analogic ALOG is projected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.71 on revenue of $140.80 million. Apple AAPL introduced iPhone 5 at an event in San Francisco. K12 LRN reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit. W.W. Grainger GWW is expected to report August sales results. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.29%, French CAC 40 index declined 0.70%. London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.07% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.28%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.39%, China's Shanghai Composite declining 0.76% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.53%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.14% and India's Sensex rose 0.12%. Crude oil for October delivery gained $0.08 to trade at $97.10 a barrel, while gold for December delivery declined $0.20 to $1,733.40 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) fell 0.02% to trade at 79.68, down from 79.728 in late North American trade on Wednesday.