US stock futures point to a slightly lower open Thursday following some downbeat data this morning. Hurricane Sandy is being blamed for a 78 000 claim spike in the weekly jobless claims number. Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is also trading almost 3% lower pre-market after reporting lower than expected revenue numbers in its third-quarter earnings results. Yesterday we saw another sharp sell-off in the indices amid worries about escalating conflicts in the Middle East and the fiscal cliff. Yesterday in his first press conference since being re-elected President Barack Obama opened the floor to new revenue raising ideas but stood pat ...