US Stock Futures Suggest Weak Opening; Factory PMI, Homes Sales Data And Earnings In Focus

US stock futures pointed to a weak opening Thursday in a spillover of the previous session's circumspect mood after corporate earnings proved to be a mixed bag.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.36 percent and futures on the S&P 500 were down 0.3 percent while those on the Nasdaq were down 0.02 percent.

On the earnings front, we have McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD), Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT) and Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) as part of the before-market-hours line-up. After markets close, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) are among those scheduled to declare earnings.

In data releases, the flash manufacturing PMI is due at 8:30 a.m. EST while data on existing homes sales for December is scheduled for 10 a.m.

In Europe, stocks were mixed despite upbeat PMI data, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index falling 0.09 percent while the FTSE 100 was down 0.11 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 was down 0.18 percent while France's CAC-40 was up 0.07 percent.

In Asia, markets were mostly down with Japan’s Nikkei ending the day down 0.79 percent while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 finished down 1.07 percent. The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.47 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.51 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was down 1.16 percent and India’s BSE Sensex inched up 0.17 percent.