A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Consumer Spending Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings reports. Data on personal income and consumer spending for December will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 26 points to 26,578.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 6.5 points to 2,868.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 17.25 points to 7,013.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.89 percent to trade at $69.89 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures dropped 0.54 percent to trade at $65.78 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.43 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.10 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.02 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.29 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.05 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.01 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.56 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.99 percent and India’s BSE Sensex climbed 0.65 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Piper Jaffray downgraded Finisar Corporation FNSR from Overweight to Neutral.

Finisar shares fell 2.36 percent to $18.62 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. KS agreed to be acquired by WestRock Co WRK for $35 per share in cash.



• DST Systems, Inc. DST reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.



• Tandem Diabetes Care Inc TNDM filed for up to 13.5 million share offering of common stock.



• Sanofi SA (ADR) SNY announced plans to acquire Ablynx NV ABLX for €3.9 billion.