US stock futures edged lower on Thursday after continuing jobless claims hit a 25 year high. Disappointing corporate profits also weighed upon the sentiments. At 8:31 am ET, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December lost 16.60 points to 941.40. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures shrank 121 points to 9054. Nasdaq Composite Index futures slumped 30.75 points to 1275.50. On Thursday, a release by Department of Labor showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits fell 4,000 to 481,00 in the week ending Nov. 1. The four-week average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims remained unchanged at 477,000Another release showed third-quarter productivity. The number of Americans collecting state unemployment benefits rose by 122,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.84 million in the week ending Oct. 25, a 25 year high. Another release showed productivity in the nonfarm business sector increased at a 1.1% annual rate. Economists had forecast productivity to rise 1%. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) October US same-store sales climbed 2.4% ex-fuel and 2.5% including fuel, exceeding Wall Street expectations. Analysts on an average were expecting same-store sales to rise 1.6%. Shares of Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) rose over 5% in German trading. Late on Wednesday, Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang said at a technology conference that he is "very open minded" about a merger with Microsoft Corp. "The best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo. At the right price, whatever that price is." Early on Wednesday, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) abandoned its proposed 10 year advertising partnership with Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). Late on Wednesday, San Jose, California based Cisco Systems Inc.(NASDAQ: CSCO) reported that its first-quarter net income was little changed at $2.2 billion or 37 cents a share , compared with a net profit of $2.2 billion or 35 cents in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Adjusted income was 42 cents a share compared to 42 cents in the year ago period. Sales rose marginally by 8% to $10.3 billion, from $9.6 billion last year. Analysts were looking for earnings of 39 cents a share on revenue of $10.3 billion. Shares of Cisco slumped 6% in Frankfurt. News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) fell 21% in Australia. Yesterday, the company announced that its first-quarter profit fell 30% to $515 million, or 20 cents a share, from a profit of $732 million, or 23 cents a share, in the same quarter in 2007. Operating profit declined 9% to $953 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30. The profit was primarily impacted by drop in advertising. Sales climbed 6.3% to $7.51 billion. Analysts on an average expected the media company to earn 23 cents a share on sales of $7.66 billion. Shares of J.P Morgan (NYSE: JPM) retreated over 7% in European trading. American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) dropped over 6% while Alcoa (NYSE: AA) was down 4.5%. On Wednesday, Bank Of England sharply lowered its key interest rate by 150 basis points to 3%. European Central Bank slashed its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 5.25%, matching forecasts. Swiss Central Bank cut interest rates by 50 basis points. According to the British Bankers' Association, the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR for three month loan dropped 12 basis points to 2.39%. The overnight rate rose less than 1 basis point to 0.33%. The Libor-OIS spread narrowed 11 basis points to 181 basis points. European stocks were trading deep in red afternoon trade. At 13:18 pm London time, U.K. FTSE fell 157.38 points or 3.47% to 4,373.35. The German DAX and French CAC retreated 4.19% and 3.81% respectively. Asian stocks tumbled on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 fell 622.10 points or 6.53% to 8,899.14. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 1,050.12 points or 7.08% to 13,790.40. On Thursday, NYMEX Crude oil for December delivery declined as much as $2.05 or 3.1 %, to $63.25.$67.06 a barrel. Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.

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