US Stock Futures Drop; All Eyes On Jobs Report

Pre-open movers US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on nonfarm payrolls for July will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while consumer credit data for June will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 30.5 points to 17,344.5, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 3.35 points to 2,076.15. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 7.05 points to 4,517.70. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.32 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.38 percent and German DAX 30 index declining 0.40 percent. French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.31 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.07 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.29 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.73 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.26 percent and India's BSE Sensex fell 0.22 percent. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Barclays upgraded Viacom, Inc. VIA from Underweight to Overweight and lowered the price target from $67.00 to $56.00. Viacom shares dipped 13.9351 percent to close at $44.77 yesterday. Breaking news

• Hershey Co HSY reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. To read the full news, click here.
• EVOTEC AG EVOTF and Sanofi SA (ADR) SNY today announced a strategic collaboration in the field of diabetes. To read the full news, click here.
• Zynga Inc ZNGA reported a narrower-than-expected adjusted loss for the second quarter on Thursday. To read the full news, click here.
• Harris Corporation HRS reported stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal fourth quarter. To read the full news, click here.