A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Drop Ahead Of Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings report from Johnson & Johnson JNJ, Halliburton Company HAL and International Business Machines Corporation IBM. Data on existing home sales for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 195 points to 24,492.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 22.25 points to 2,649.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 70.75 points to 6,722.75.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.93 percent to trade at $61.53 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures dropped 2.03 percent to trade at $52.71 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.49 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.38 percent and German DAX 30 index declined 0.51 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.63 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.59 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.47 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.7 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.18 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.37 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at KeyBanc upgraded Cable One Inc CABO from Sector Weight to Overweight.

Cable One shares rose 2.11 percent to close at $850.58 on Friday.

Breaking News

• Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. SWK reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.
• Mediwound Ltd MDWD disclosed that its Phase 3 study of NexoBrid met primary and all secondary endpoints with statistically significant results compared with control group.
• UQM Technologies Inc UQM agreed to be acquired by Danfoss for $1.71 per share in cash.
• Fibrocell Science Inc FCSC reported a 443.35K share common stock offering by selling shareholders.