US Stock Futures Slightly Down Ahead Of Jobless Claims Data; Apple Shares Drop In Pre-Market

US stock futures are slightly lower this morning, as investors are awaiting jobless claims data. Shares of Apple Inc AAPL dropped about 4.5% in pre-market trading following the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 12 points to 11,256 and S&P 500 index futures fell 3.10 points to 1,168.90. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 16.50 points to 2,122.50. US stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 1.29% to 11,320.71, the S&P 500 index rising 1.31% to 1,177.60 and the Nasdaq 100 index surging 0.88% to 2,467.69. The Labor Department is scheduled to release weekly jobless claims data at 8:30 a.m. ET. Apple Inc announced the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs. He is succeeded by Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook. Hormel Foods Corporation HRL is estimated to report its Q3 EPS at $0.35 on revenue of $1.87 billion. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc KKD is expected to report its Q2 EPS at $0.06 on revenue of $92.26 million. Fred's Inc FRED is estimated to report its Q2 EPS at $0.13 on revenue of $456.43 million. Signet Jewelers Limited SIG is projected to report its Q2 EPS at $0.59 on revenue of $766.76 million. Pandora Media Inc P is estimated to report its latest quarter EPS at $0.00 on revenue of $60.26 million. Sanderson Farms Inc SAFM is expected to post a Q3 loss at $0.68 per share on revenue of $521.35 million. Regis Corporation RGS is projected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.30 on revenue of $589.10 million. Guess Inc GES reported its FQ2 net profit at $60.7 million, or $0.65 per share, down from $66.8 million, or $0.72 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue climbed 17% to $677.2 million from $577.1 million. Excluding one-time items, Guess' earnings came in at $0.84 per share. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.81 per share on revenue of $656.4 million. Guess projects Q3 earnings of $0.71 to $0.74 per share, versus analysts' estimates of $0.84 per share. Collective Brands Inc PSS swung to a second-quarter loss of $35 million, or $0.58 per share, from a profit of $21 million, or $0.32 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, Collective Brands' earnings came in at $0.16 per share. Its revenue climbed to $882.4 million from $841.3 million. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.12 per share on revenue of $866.2 million. The company also announced its plans to close about 475 underperforming stores over the next three years. European markets were mostly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.24%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.18%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.49% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.53%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surging 1.54%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 1.06% and China's Shanghai Composite rising 2.92%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.4676% and India's Sensex dipped 0.72%. Gold futures dropped, with gold for December delivery down $46.10 to $1,711.20 in electronic trade. The euro gained 0.08% against the dollar to trade at $1.4427, versus $1.4422 on Tuesday.