A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Surge, Goldman Sachs Earnings In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS.

Data on housing starts for March will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on industrial production for March will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET. San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in Madrid at 9:15 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Governor Randal Quarles will speak in Washington at 10:00 a.m. ET. Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker is set to speak in Philadelphia at 11:00 a.m. ET, while Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans will speak in Chicago at 1:40 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 145 points to 24,708.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 13.25 points to 2,694.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 33.50 points to 6,745.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.04 percent to trade at $71.45 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.08 percent to trade at $66.27 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.28 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.39 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.86 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.25 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.44 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.06 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.83 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 1.41 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.26 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded Twitter, Inc. TWTR from Underweight to Equal-Weight.

Twitter shares rose 2.94 percent to $29.42 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• UnitedHealth Group Incorporated UNH reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and raised its FY 2018 guidance.
• Johnson & Johnson JNJ reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter and raised its FY 2018 sales forecast.
• Netflix, Inc. NFLX reported better-than-expected sales for its first quarter Net streaming additions came in at 7.41 million, also beating estimates by nearly 1 million. The company issued strong second-quarter guidance amid comments that it expects to be free cash flow negative for several more years as the spending on original content continues.
• Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc BLCM reported a 7 million-share common stock offering.