US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Economic Data

Pre-open movers

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. The Markit PMI services index for October will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the pending home sales index for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Dallas Fed general business activity index for October will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 27 points to 16,709.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 4.80 points to 1,954.90. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index tumbled 5.75 points to 4,029.00.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 1.37%, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.44%. German DAX 30 index declined 0.57%, French CAC 40 Index fell 0.59% and London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.87%. German Ifo business climate index declined to 103.2 in October, from 104.7 in the prior month.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average climbed 0.63%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.68%, China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.51% and India's Sensex declined 0.37%.

Broker Recommendation
Analysts at Monness Crespi Hardt initiated coverage on Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) with a Neutral rating. The target price for Amazon.com is set to $320.

Amazon.com shares fell 0.51% to $285.60 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter and narrowed its forecast for the year. To read the full news, click here.
• pSivida (NASDAQ: PSDV), a leader in the development of sustained release, drug delivery products for treating eye diseases, today announced that it has received the $25 million milestone payment under its out-license of ILUVIEN® for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). To read the full news, click here.
• IBERIABANK (NASDAQ: IBKC), holding company of the 127-year-old IBERIABANK (www.iberiabank.com) and Old Florida Bancshares, holding company of Old Florida Bank and New Traditions Bank (www.oldflorida.com) jointly announced today the signing of a definitive agreement for IBKC to acquire Old Florida via merger. To read the full news, click here.
• Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) today announced that Gale Smith, Ph.D., Vice President of Vaccine Development at Novavax, presented at the 8th Vaccine and ISV Conference in Philadelphia on Sunday, October 26. Dr. Smith's presentation was titled: 2014 Guinea Ebola Virus Recombinant Glycoprotein (GP) Nanoparticle Vaccine was Highly Immunogenic and Cross-Neutralized 1976 Virus GP Pseudovirus. To read the full news, click here.