US Stock Futures Down As Investors Await Earnings Reports, Economic Data

US stock futures are lower this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings reports along with data on jobless claims and producer-price inflation. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 51 points to 12,148.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 6.80 points to 1,301.90. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 dropped 14.25 points to 2,294.25. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.06% to 12,271, the S&P 500 index gained 0.02% to 1,314 and the Nasdaq 100 index surged 0.61% to 2,762. Data on weekly jobless claims and producer-price inflation for March will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Google Inc GOOG is projected to report its Q1 EPS at $8.13 on revenue of $6.32 billion. Hasbro Inc HAS is estimated to post its Q1 earnings at $0.17 per share on revenue of $661.02 million. Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc FCS is expected to report its Q1 EPS at $0.36 on revenue of $413.25 million. Supervalu Inc SVU is estimated to post its FQ4 earnings at $0.34 per share on revenue of $8.76 billion. Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc, the world's largest franchisee of McDonald's Corp MCD, sold 73.5 million shares for $17 per share, raising $1.25 billion in an initial public offering, a source familiar with the deal said. However, the company had planned to sell 62.5 million shares for $13 to $15 per share. European markets were lower today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.60%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 1.03%. Most Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.13%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.54% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.26%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.50%. Moody's Investors Service lowered its outlook on the Chinese property sector from “stable” to “negative.” The dollar index (DXY) gained 0.11% to 75.07, after falling to a low of 74.647 earlier. Crude oil for May delivery dropped 0.50% to $106.57 a barrel. However, gold for May delivery gained 0.17% to $1,456.20 an ounce. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.