A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Down; Dow Futures Fall Over 200 Points

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 204 points to 25,025.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 22.75 points to 2,712.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 58.25 points to 6,726.50.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures fell 1.08 percent to trade at $64.96 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.39 percent to trade at $61.92 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.42 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.03 percent and German DAX 30 index falling 0.05 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.36 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.12 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.01 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.78 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.45 percent and India’s BSE Sensex dropped 0.21 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Pivotal Research downgraded Interpublic Group of Companies Inc IPG from Buy to Hold.

Interpublic shares rose 1.08 percent to close at $25.33 on Friday.

Breaking news

• Home Depot Inc HD reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and increased its quarterly dividend by 15.7 percent.



• Walmart Inc WMT reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.



• Henry Schein, Inc. HSIC posted in-line earnings for its fourth quarter.



• Voxeljet AG (ADR) VJET reported weak preliminary sales for the year ended December 31, 2017. The company also issued a weak sales forecast for the year ending December 31, 2018.