US Stock Futures Mostly Flat; FOMC Minutes In Focus - Enact Holdings (NASDAQ:ACT)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade. Data on housing starts for January and the producer price index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for January will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while the Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 4 points to 18,005.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.70 points to 2,095.20. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 2.50 points to 4,384.25.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.10%, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.87% and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.61%. French CAC 40 Index jumped 1% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.07%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.18%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.19% and India's BSE Sensex climbed 0.63%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Citigroup upgraded

Chubb CorpCB

from Sell to Neutral. The price target for Chubb has been raised from $89 to $103. Chubb's shares closed at $101.16 yesterday.

Breaking news

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. HLT reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. To read the full news, click here.
Actavis plc ACT today announced that it will adopt a new corporate name – Allergan – following the anticipated successful completion of the acquisition of Allergan, Inc. To read the full news, click here.
Aerie Pharmaceuticals AERI announced today potentially breakthrough findings from new preclinical research. To read the full news, click here.
OncoSec Medical ONCS and Heat Biologics HTBX today announced that they have entered into an agreement to evaluate the combination of the immunotherapy approaches developed by each company. To read the full news, click here.

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