U.S. futures were down slightly across the board Friday morning, as markets look to rebound from a down day of trading on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.2% while Nasdaq and S&P 500 both fell 0.1% yesterday.
Meanwhile, world markets were mixed. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng both rose, while the Nikkei in Japan closed the day down 1.2%. In Europe, stocks were lower, with the Dax falling 1.2%, the CAC 40 declining 0.7% and the FTSE 100 dropping 0.3% with about three hours left in trading.
U.S. crude futures were also lower Friday morning, with Brent crude for October delivery falling 0.7% to $49.34 per barrel and West Texas crude futures dropping 0.5% to $47.10 per barrel.
In stock news, Big Lots (BIG) shares were on the rise in early trading after posting mixed quarterly results. The discount retailer reported earnings of $0.52 per share, which surpassed Wall Street's forecasts of $0.45. But revenue of $1.2 billion was slightly below analysts' forecasts of $1.22 billion. Big Lots also updated its full-year earnings guidance -- it now expects EPS in range of $3.45 to $3.55, which is higher than its previous outlook of $3.35 to $3.50.
"Jennifer [Big Lots' name to represent its target audience] is responding positively to our strategic focus on ownable and winnable merchandise categories, improved merchandise presentations and more consistent in-store execution," said CEO David Campisi in a statement.
Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) has revealed plans to cut approximately 3% of its workforce after merging with SABMiller (SBMRY) . The $104.36 billion acquisition, often called the "Megabrew merger," looks to be completed in less than two months. AB InBev said it plans to implement the staff reductions gradually, in the three years after the deal closes. About 5,500 positions are likely to be eliminated, Bloomberg reported citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
Shares of Dollar General (DG) were up 0.8% in premarket action after falling nearly 18% in Thursday's session following the release of disappointing same-store sales numbers in the just-concluded quarter. Same-store sales rose 0.7% in the second quarter, well below analysts' 2.7% expectations for the period.
And shares of fellow dollar store company Dollar Tree (DLTR) are also looking to recover Friday after falling nearly 10% after its own weak quarterly results. Dollar Tree reported that its same-store sales rose 1.2% in the quarter, about half of the 2.4% increase analysts anticipated.
Finally, shares of GameStop (GME) were down 8% before the opening bell following the release of its quarterly results after the closing Thursday. The video-game retailer reported a same-store sales decline of nearly 11%, well beyond of the 4%-7% drop analysts were modeling for the quarter.
