A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Gain; All Eyes On Jobs Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on nonfarm payrolls and unemployment rate for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while consumer credit report for May will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 49 points to 17,840.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 6.25 points to 2,095.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 8.50 points to 4,454.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.52 percent to trade at $46.61 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also gained 0.55 percent to trade at $45.39 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 1.48 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.49 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.96 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.14 percent, while French CAC 40 Index gained 0.76 percent. French industrial production declined 0.5 percent on-month in May. Germany's trade surplus dropped to 22.2 billion euros ($24.6 billion) in May, compared to EUR24.1 billion in April. The U.K.'s trade deficit increased to 9.9 billion pounds ($12.82 billion) in May, versus GBP9.4 billion in April.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.11 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.69 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.95 percent and India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.27 percent. Japan's current account surplus shrank 2.4 percent year-over-year to Y1.809 trillion in May.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Bernstein upgraded Intel Corporation INTC from Underperform to Market Perform.

Intel shares rose 0.36 percent to $33.32 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Polycom, Inc. PLCM revealed Friday that private equity firm, Siris Capital Group, LLC and its affiliates, have submitted a unilaterally binding offer to buy all outstanding shares for $12.50 per share in cash. To read the full news, click here.



• Helen of Troy Limited HELE reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, but the company missed analysts’ sales estimates.



• Gap Inc. GPS reported a 2 percent rise in its comparable sales for June, while total sales increased to $1.57 billion from $1.54 billion.



• PriceSmart, Inc. PSMT posted weaker-than-expected results for the third quarter. The company’s same store sales declined 1.9 percent for June.