US Stock Futures Down, All Eyes On Alcoa Results

US stock futures are lower this morning. Alcoa Inc AA is all set to report its quarterly results after the closing bell today. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 39 points to 11,580.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 6.50 points to 1,261.50. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 7.75 points to 2,265.25. US stocks closed lower on Friday, with the blue-chip Dow index dropping 22.55 points, or 0.19%. No major economic data are due to be released today. Analysts are expecting Alcoa to have earned $0.18 per share in the fourth quarter. Apollo Group Inc APOL is expected to post its FQ1 EPS at $1.35. DuPont DD announced its plans to buy Denmark's Danisco for $6.3 billion. Negative sentiments ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.70%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.50%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average adding 0.11%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.14% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 1.66%. Crude-oil futures rose, with the February crude futures gaining $0.53 to $88.56 per barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Gold futures were trading at $1,367.80 an ounce. The US dollar was higher versus its major rivals, with the dollar index (DXY) gaining about 0.09%. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.