A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from several companies. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 121 points to 23,863.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 14.50 points to 2,621.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 40 points to 6,488.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.11 percent to trade at $73.94 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.27 percent to trade at $67.88 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.63 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 1.04 percent and German DAX 30 index falling 1.71 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.67 percent, while French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.83 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.28 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.06 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.35 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.33 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Alphabet Inc. GOOGL from Hold to Buy.

Alphabet shares rose 0.35 percent to $1,026.21 in pre-market trading.