U.S. stock futures were mixed early Thursday morning after stocks closed Monday around three-month lows following a heavy selling session. It could be, though, that after such few days we might see a recovery of sorts in today's trading.On Wednesday, stocks sank again after FedEx gave its grim outlook, Morgan Stanley reported results and Fifth Third's cut its dividend. The Dow industrials fell below the 12,000 mark during the session for the first time in three months, but ended down slightly above it, down 131 points, or 1.08%, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 28 points, or 1.14%, and the S&P 500 fell 13 points, or 0.97%.
Economic data today includes weekly initial jobless claims to be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT, the June Philadelphia Fed Index and Mays leading economic indicators, both due out at 10:00.
Oil prices remained steady above $136 a barrel despite an attack on a Nigerian oil field. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) shut down production at the offshore oil field after the attack. The field produces about 200,000 barrels per day.
In corporate news, Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN) shares are plunging over 35% in premarket trading after Hexion Specialty Chemicals said late Wednesday it will not be able to go through with its deal to buy Huntsman because of Huntsman's increased debts and lower profits. Jefferies&Co. downgraded Huntsman Corp. to Underperform from Hold and cut his price target to $15 from $28. Huntsman closed at $20.86 Wednesday.
Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. has increased its stake in Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) to 6.49% from 5.5% according to securities filings and now owns 140.8 million Ford shares.
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