US Stock Futures Slightly Lower Ahead Of Fed Minutes

US stock futures are slightly lower this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 8 points to 12,597.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 1 point to 1,327.20. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 1.25 points to 2,577.00. US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping 0.50% to 12,632.00, the S&P 500 index dropping 0.57% to 1,330.66 and the Nasdaq 100 index dropping 0.30% to 2,893.76. Data on housing starts for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. However, data on industrial production and capacity utilization for April will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET. The minutes of the recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting will be released at 2 p.m. ET. Facebook Inc announced its plans to lift its initial public offering by 85 million shares. Abercrombie & Fitch Co ANF is estimated to post its Q1 earnings at $0.02 per share on revenue of $951.37 million. Chico's FAS Inc CHS is projected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.30 on revenue of $630.64 million. Deere & Company DE is estimated to post its Q2 EPS at $2.53 on revenue of $9.70 billion. Limited Brands Inc LTD is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.40 per share on revenue of $2.14 billion. Staples Inc SPLS is estimated to post its Q1 EPS at $0.30 on revenue of $6.19 billion. Spartan Stores Inc SPTN is expected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.39 on revenue of $630.03 million. Target Corp TGT is estimated to post its Q1 earnings at $1.01 per share on revenue of $16.83 billion. Citi Trends CTRN is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.48 on revenue of $196.18 million. Brady Corp BRC is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.57 per share on revenue of $342.09 million. Safeway Inc SWY lifted its quarterly dividend by 21%. J.C. Penney Company Inc JCP reported a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.90%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 1.03%, French CAC 40 index fell 0.15% and German DAX 30 index dropped 1.02%. Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 1.12%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 2.35% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 1.21%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 3.19% and India's Sensex declined 1.81%. Crude for June delivery dropped $1.74 to $92.24 a barrel. The ICE dollar index (DXY) gained 0.28% to trade at 81.45 on Wednesday.