A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Gain; Fed Meeting In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today. Data on housing starts and permits for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 58 points to 18,114.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 8 points to 2,141.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 17 points to 4,812.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures dropped 1.09 percent to trade at $45.45 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also fell 1.14 percent to trade at $43.36 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.01 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.17 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.59 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.58 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.27 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.16 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.08 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.10 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.39 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Nomura initiated coverage on General Motors Company GM with a Neutral rating and a $33.00 price target.

General Motors shares rose 0.57 percent to $31.90 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Lennar Corporation LEN reported 5.6 percent year-over-year earnings growth for the third quarter driven by 14 percent uptick in top line that came in above the Street analysts' estimates. To read the full news, click here.



• Ascena Retail Group Inc ASNA reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter and issued a weak forecast for the first quarter.



• Steel Dynamics, Inc. STLD issued disappointing earnings outlook for the third quarter. The company projects Q3 earnings of $0.63 to $0.67 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $0.70 per share.



• Tessera Technologies, Inc. TSRA and DTS, Inc., DTSI reached a definitive agreement through which the former would buy the latter for $42.50 a share in cash. This represented a 28 percent premium based on 30-day volume weighted average price of September 19. The total transaction is valued at about $850 million. To read the full news, click here.