U.S. Futures Slide On Global Worries; Hot Stocks: CHK, PRGS, FLT, MOH, MCD, BBY

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on the Wall Street amid disappointment over lack of signals from central bankers for further stimulus measures and weak European data.

Mini Dow Industrial Average futures shed 52.00 points to 12,354.00. The Nasdaq Futures dipped 5.50 points to 2,525.00. Standard and Poor's 500 futures lost 3.90 points to 1,306.10.

On the economic front, U.S. trade gap narrowed to $50.1 billion in April from a revised $52.6 billion in March, yet came in wider that economists expectations of $49.5 billion.

In European news, Germany's exports fell for the first time since December 2011, a report from the German statistical office showed.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks ended on a mixed note, paring strong opening gains, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's congressional testimony gave no hints of additional monetary easing.

Hot Stocks Of The Day: CHK, PRGS, FLT, MOH, MCD, BBY

In corporate news, Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE:CHK) rose 1.23 percent in premarket after the oil explorer announced plans to sell its midstream assets in three separate deals for total expected cash proceeds of more than $4.0 billion.

FleetCor Technologies Inc. (NYSE:FLT) dropped 4.92 percent in premarket after the payment processor announced that selling stockholders have agreed to sell 6.75 million shares in an underwritten offering.

Molina Healthcare Inc. (NYSE:MOH) jumped 18.18 percent after the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) has recommended that Molina Healthcare of Ohio be awarded a Medicaid managed care provider agreement coverage of the newly designated regions.

Progress Software Corp. (NASDAQ:PRGS) retreaed 8.82 percent after the enterprise software provider forecast a weak second-quarter.

McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD) fell 2.47 percent after the fast-food restaurant chain posted global comparable-store sales growth of 3.3 percent in May amid slowness in Europe.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE:BBY) dropped 1.88 percent in premarket. The Richfield, Minnesota-based consumer electronics giant's founder and chairman Richard Schulze resigned from the board. Schulze plans to explore options for his 20.1 percent stake in the company.

Global Markets:

European markets retreated, with Germany's DAX down 0.52 percent at 6,112.36. France's CAC40 fell 0.75 percent to 3,048.22. The U.K. FTSE 100 lost 0.65 percent to trade at 5,412.54.
 
Among Asian markets, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.51 percent to end at 2,281.51. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.94 percent to close at 18,502.34. Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.09 percent to close at 8,459.26. India's BSE Sensex finished at 16,718.87, up 0.42 percent.

Market Scan:

Ahead of the opening bell, crude oil futures dived 2.65 percent to $82.570 per barrel. Gold futures shed 0.38 percent to $1,582.0 per ounce.
   
In the currency market, the euro traded 0.81 percent lower against the U.S. dollar at 1.2458, and the British pound dipped 0.64 percent against the greenback to 1.5429. The dollar lost 0.38 percent against the Japanese yen to 79.3300. Providing quality reviews, articles and writings on crude oil, energy and gas online.