US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street; Lowe's Shares Down In Pre-Market Trading

US stock futures are lower this morning, after a decline in global markets. Investors are awaiting quarterly results from J.C. Penney Company Inc (NYSE: JCP) and a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 55 points to 12,501.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index fell 6.10 points to 1,327.70. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 5.75 points to 2,364.25. US stocks closed lower on Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping 0.79% to 12,595.75, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index declining 0.81% to 1,337.77 and the NASDAQ composite index dipping 1.21% to 2,828.47. The New York Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its Empire State Manufacturing Survey for May at 8:30 a.m. ET. Fed Chairman Bernanke is scheduled to deliver a speech on jobs and economic growth at a Washington D.C. conference at 9:00 a.m. ET. Shares of Lowe's Companies (NYSE: LOW) fell about 3% in pre-market trading after the company reported a 5.7% decline in its fiscal first-quarter net income. J.C. Penney Company Inc is projected to report its Q1 EPS at $0.25 on revenue of $3.95 billion. Winn-Dixie Stores Inc (NASDAQ: WINN) is estimated to post its Q1 earnings at $0.10 per share on revenue of $1.62 billion. Urban Outfitters Inc (NASDAQ: URBN) is estimated to post its Q1 earnings at $0.24 per share on revenue of $522.07 million. IFM Investments Limited (NYSE: CTC) is projected to post a Q1 loss at $0.25 per share on revenue of $20.35 million. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) announced its plans to acquire 57% of privately-held Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry for $460 million in cash. Iron Mountain Inc (NYSE: IRM) agreed to sell its online backup & recovery, digital archiving and eDiscovery solutions to Autonomy Corp (OTC: AUTNF) for $380 million cash. Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.94%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 1.32% and China's Shanghai Composite declining 0.77%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.36% and India's Sensex dipped 0.97%. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.64%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.71%. The dollar was trading flat versus most rivals. Crude-oil prices dropped, with the June light-crude contract declining $1.76 at $97.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the Globex market. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.