A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on durable goods orders for February will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while new home sales report for February is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Knoxville, Tennessee at 8:10 a.m. ET, while Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in New York at 10:30 a.m. ET. Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Austin at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 97 points to 23,866.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 6.50 points to 2,635.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dipped 41.75 points to 6,644.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.36 percent to trade at $69.16 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.42 percent to trade at $64.57 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.03 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1 percent and German DAX 30 index falling 1.38 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.60 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 1.34 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 4.51 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 2.45 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 3.39 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 1.24 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Wells Fargo upgraded KB Home KBH from Market Perform to Outperform.

KB Home shares rose 3.81 percent to $29.95 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Nike Inc NKE reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter and reported the purchase of Zodiac.



• Leap Therapeutics Inc LPTX disclosed a proposed common stock offering.



• Micron Technology, Inc. MU reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter and issued strong forecast for the current quarter.



• KB Home KBH reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales misses estimates.