A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Wal-Mart, Alibaba Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA. Gap Inc GPS, Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT and Ross Stores, Inc. ROST will release earnings after the closing bell. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week and the Philadelphia Fed general conditions index for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for July will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET. Data on e-commerce retail sales for the second quarter and the index of leading economic indicators for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Lubbock, Texas at 1:00 p.m. ET, while Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Edina, Minnesota at 1:45 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 15 points to 21,996.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 2.75 points to 2,464.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 15.25 points to 5,908.25.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.16 percent to trade at $50.19 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures dropped 0.30 percent to trade at $46.64 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.44 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.15 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.15 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.29 percent, while French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.16 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.14 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.24 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.68 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.08 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded Illinois Tool Works Inc. ITW from Neutral to Underweight.

Illinois Tool Works shares rose 0.64 percent to close at $140.03 on Wednesday.

Breaking news

• NetApp Inc. NTAP reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Wednesday.



• Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD disclosed that it has received an approval for Vosevi in Canada.



• Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO reported in-line earnings for its fourth quarter. However, the company projects Q1 sales to drop 1percent to 3 percent year-over-year.



• L Brands Inc LB reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter, but lowered its profit outlook for the full year.