US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street

Pre-open movers US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. The NFIB small business optimism index for April will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET, while the Treasury budget for April will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 150.50 points to 17,890.50, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 17.30 points to 2,080.45. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 41.55 points to 4,389.70. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.59 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1.46 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 1.74 percent. French CAC 40 Index fell 1.25 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index fell 1.57 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.02 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 1.56 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 1.12 percent and India's BSE Sensex dipped 2.29 percent. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Macquarie downgraded Verizon Communications Inc. VZ from Neutral to Underperform and raised the price target from $44.50 to $45.00. Verizon shares rose 0.79 percent to $88.00 in pre-market trading. Breaking news

• International Flavors & Fragrances Inc IFF reported upbeat results for the first quarter on Tuesday. To read the full news, click here.
• A Macau appeals court reportedly rejected a $375.7 million lawsuit against the China unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS. To read the full news, click here.
• Leidos Holdings Inc LDOS reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the first quarter on Tuesday. To read the full news, click here.
• EXOR S.p.A., one of Europe's leading listed investment companies, today announced that it has delivered an irrevocable and binding offer to the Board of Directors of Partnerre Ltd PRE to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of PartnerRe for $137.50 per share in cash, valuing PartnerRe at $6.8 billion. To read the full news, click here.