A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Economic Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on personal income and consumer spending for March will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Chicago PMI for April is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET. The pending home sales index for March will bed released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Dallas Fed manufacturing index for April is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 108 points to 24,391.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 9.60 points to 2,681.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 36.75 points to 6,706.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.11 percent to trade at $73.81 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.13 percent to trade at $67.33 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.39 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.06 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.05 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.50 percent, while French CAC 40 Index gained 0.21 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.66 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.74 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.23 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.55 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Wedbush upgraded Take-Two Interactive TTWO from Neutral to Outperform.

Take-Two shares fell 0.56 percent to close at $98.63 on Friday.

Breaking news

• Centene Corp CNC reported a $2.6 billion offering.



• Marathon Petroleum Corp MPC reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter.



• T-Mobile Us Inc TMUS agreed to acquire Sprint Corp S in a $26 billion all-stock deal.



• Allergan plc AGN reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and raised its FY18 sales forecast.