US Stock Futures Down As Investors Await Fed Minutes

US stock futures are lower this morning, ahead of the minutes of the recent Fed meeting. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 19 points to 13,180.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 3 points to 1,409.50. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 5.25 points to 2,768.75. US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.51% to 13,203.58, the S&P 500 index falling 0.35% to 1,413.17 and the Nasdaq 100 index declining 0.29% to 3,067.26. Data on existing home sales data for July will be released at 10 a.m. ET. The minutes of the recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting will be released at 2 p.m. ET. American Eagle Outfitters AEO is expected to report its Q2 earnings at $0.21 per share on revenue of $721.68 million. Hewlett-Packard Company HPQ is projected to post its Q3 EPS at $0.98 on revenue of $30.10 billion. Chico's FAS CHS is estimated to report its Q2 EPS at $0.30 on revenue of $641.26 million. Guess' GES is expected to post its Q2 earnings at $0.54 per share on revenue of $637.19 million. Synopsys SNPS is estimated to post its Q3 EPS at $0.50 on revenue of $443.94 million. Eaton Vance EV is projected to report its Q3 earnings at $0.47 per share on revenue of $304.06 million. Williams-Sonoma WSM reported a 10% rise in its fiscal second-quarter profit and lifted its forecast for the full year. Dell DELL lowered its full-year profit view. La-Z-Boy LZB reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter revenue. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.77%, French CAC 40 index dropped 0.68%. London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.99% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.78%. Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average falling 0.27%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.50% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.17%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.06% and India's Sensex fell 0.21%. Japan posted a trade deficit in July. The trade deficit came in at 517.4 billion yen ($6.5 billion), versus a ¥60.3 billion surplus in June. However, economists were expecting a ¥275 billion deficit. Nymex crude-oil futures dropped $0.21 to trade at $96.63 a barrel, while gold futures rose $1 to $1,643.90 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) was flat at 81.932. The euro was also trading flat against the dollar at $1.2463.