US Stock Futures Down; All Eyes On FOMC Minutes

Pre-open movers US stock futures dropped in early pre-market trading. Data on housing starts and the producer price index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 55 points to 16,052.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 6.70 points to 1,830.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 8.25 points to 3,666.75. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.73%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.29% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.35%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.34% and French CAC 40 Index tumbled 0.35%. UK's joblessness rate climbed to 7.2% in the three months ending December. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.52%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.34%, China's Shanghai Composite Index surged 1.11% and India's BSE Sensex surged 0.43%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Wunderlich downgraded Waste Management WM from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Waste Management has been lowered from $52 to $45. Waste Management's shares closed at $41.72 yesterday. Breaking news

• Crédit Agricole SA CRARY posted a profit in the fourth quarter. To read the full news, click here.
• JoS. A. Bank Clothiers JOSB today announced that it has commenced a tender offer to purchase up to $300.0 million in value of shares of its common stock at a price of $65.00 per share. To read the full news, click here.
• JinkoSolar JKS today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Premium Energy Co to supply photovoltaic modules to the Swiss Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. To read the full news, click here.
• AngloGold Ashanti AU posted a net loss in 2013. AngloGold swung to a net loss of $2.23 billion, versus a year-ago profit of $897 million. To read the full news, click here.