US Stock Futures Mixed; Jobless Claims Data In Focus

Pre-open movers US stock futures were mixed in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. Data on GDP growth for the third quarter and weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on factory orders for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 10 points to 15,876.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 1 point to 1,790.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 3.50 points to 3,486.00. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.26%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.01% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.03%. German DAX 30 index gained 0.14% and French CAC 40 Index declined 0.05%. Asian markets ended mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average tumbled 1.50%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.21%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.07% and India's BSE Sensex jumped 1.2%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Target TGT from “neutral” to “underperform.” The target price for Target has been lowered from $70 to $60. Target's shares closed at $63.31 yesterday. Breaking news

• Royal Bank of Canada's RY President and Chief Executive Officer, Gordon Nixon, today announced his intention to retire effective August 1, 2014, after 13 years in this role. To read the full news, click here.
• McKesson MCK announced today that McKesson has launched the voluntary public takeover offer for the outstanding shares of Celesio and tender offers for the outstanding convertible bonds of Celesio through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Dragonfly GmbH & Co. KGaA, in connection with the announcement on October 24, 2013 of McKesson's agreement to acquire Celesio. To read the full news, click here.
• Jos. A. Bank Clothiers JOSB reported a rise in its third-quarter profit. Jos. A. Bank's quarterly net profit surged to $13.6 million, or $0.49 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $13.3 million, or $0.47 per share. To read the full news, click here.
• Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CM reported a 1.9% drop in its fourth-quarter profit. To read the full news, click here.