A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Producer Price Index for February and data on retail sales for February will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on business inventories for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 81 points to 25,103.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 7 points to 2,775.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 29.75 points to 7,086.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.53 percent to trade at $64.98 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.61 percent to trade at $61.08 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.12 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.26 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.17 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.23 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.27 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.87 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.53 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.57 percent and India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.06 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Vertical Group downgraded Cleveland-Cliffs Inc CLF from Hold to Sell.

Cleveland-Cliffs shares fell 0.96 percent to $7.22 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Express, Inc. EXPR reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.



• Caleres Inc CAL reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.



• Signet Jewelers Ltd. SIG reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, but issued weak earnings forecast for FY19.



• PetIQ Inc PETQ disclosed that it will open Veterinary clinics in 20 WalMart locations over the next 90 days. PetIQ reported a Q4 loss of $3.3 million on revenue of $51.9 million.