A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade. Data on housing starts for December, initial jobless claims for the latest week and the Philadelphia Fed general conditions index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John C. Williams is set to speak in Fairfield, Calif. at 10:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will speak in Stanford, Calif. at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 15 points to 19,722.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 1.75 points to 2,264.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 2.50 points to 5,052.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 1.28 percent to trade at $54.61 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 1.16 percent to trade at $52.49 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks and petroleum inventories will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.34 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.22 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.11 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.52 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.15 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.94 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.21 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.38 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.19 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded Tesla Motors Inc TSLA from Equal-Weight to Overweight and raised the price target from $242.00 to $305.00.

Tesla shares rose 3.36 percent to $246.36 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• KeyCorp KEY reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Thursday.



• Netflix, Inc. NFLX reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Wednesday. The company added 1.93 million domestic subscribers and 5.12 million subscribers internationally during the quarter.



• Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. CHKP reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.



• M&T Bank Corporation MTB posted weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Thursday.