A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. The Empire State manufacturing index for January is schedule for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley is set to speak in New York at 8:45 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard will speak in Washington, D.C. at 10:00 a.m. ET. San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John C. Williams is set to speak at Sacramento State University in Calif. at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 46 points to 19,786.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 8 points to 2,264.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 16.25 points to 5,045.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 1.07 percent to trade at $56.46 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 1.34 percent to trade at $53.86 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.22 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.36 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.67 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.52 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.47 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.8480 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.54 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.17 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.19 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Mizuho upgraded Netflix, Inc. NFLX from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $112.00 to $152.00.

Netflix shares rose 0.60 percent to $134.50 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Morgan Stanley MS reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.



• Tiffany & Co. TIF reported a 2 percent drop in its total same-store sales in November and December, while comparable sales in the Americas slipped 4 percent.



• UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter on Monday. The company also projects to exceed its earlier Q4 revenue forecast.



• Noble Energy, Inc. NBL announced plans to acquire Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. CWEI for $2.7 billion in cash and stock.