US Stock Futures Down As Investors Await Economic Data

US stock futures are lower this morning as investors are awaiting inflation and manufacturing data. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 43 points to 11,378.00 and S&P 500 futures lost 5.50 points to 1,231.30. Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 9.50 points to 2,204.50. US stocks closed higher, with the blue-chip Dow index rising 0.42%. The Empire State manufacturing survey for December, along with consumer-price-inflation data for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on November industrial production is due at 9:15 am ET. The NAHB housing market index for December will be released at 10:00 am ET. Shares of Novartis AG NVS surged about 6% in pre-market trading, after the company reached an agreement to buy the remaining 23% stake in Alcon Inc ACL for $12.9 billion. Yahoo Inc YHOO announced its plans to reduce 4% of its workforce or about 600 employees. Joy Global JOYG reported better-than-expected Q4 results. Moody's Investors Service is likely to downgrade the Spain's Aa1 rating. The IBEX 35 stock index in Madrid dipped 2%. Negative sentiments ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has lost 0.54%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.49%. Mostly Asian markets ended in the negative territory, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average losing 0.07%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.05% and China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.54%. The euro dropped 0.4% to $1.3292. The dollar index (DXY) gained about 0.48%. Commodity prices fell, with gold futures losing $16.40 to $1,387.90 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.