US Stock Futures Drop; Costco Posts Downbeat Profit

Pre-open movers US stock futures declined in early pre-market trade. The US Treasury monthly budget report for November will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 14 points to 15,964.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 1.80 points to 1,801.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 4.75 points to 3,511.25. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.48%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.24% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.25%. German DAX 30 index gained 0.23% and French CAC 40 Index rose 0.67%. Asian markets ended lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.62%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 1.49%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.71% and India's BSE Sensex tumbled 0.39%. Japan's core machinery orders climbed 0.6% in October versus the earlier month. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Deutsche Bank upgraded ITC Holdings ITC from “hold” to “buy.” The target price for ITC Holdings has been raised from $95 to $104. ITC's shares closed at $93.30 yesterday. Breaking news

• Costco Wholesale COST reported a weaker-than-expected first-quarter profit. Costco's quarterly profit surged to $425 million, or $0.96 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $416 million, or $0.95 per share. To read the full news, click here.
• Autohome ATHM announced Tuesday that it has priced its initial public offering of 7,820,000 American Depositary Shares at US$17.00 per ADS. Each ADS represents one Class A ordinary share of the Company. To read the full news, click here.
• Moody's MCO announced today that it has acquired Amba Investment Services, a provider of investment research and quantitative analytics for global financial institutions.To read the full news, click here.
• Joy Global JOY reported an 87% drop in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. Joy Global projects full-year earnings of $3 to $3.50 per share on revenue of $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $3.68 per share on revenue of $3.8 billion. To read the full news, click here.