A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Ford Motor Company F, Caterpillar Inc. CAT, Intel Corporation INTC, Alphabet Inc GOOGL and Microsoft Corporation MSFT. Data on international trade in goods for December, initial jobless claims and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index for December for the latest will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Markit Services PMI for January will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while data on new home sales for December and the index of leading economic indicators for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for January is schedule for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 32 points to 20,036.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 0.75 points to 2,295.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 10 points to 5,156.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 0.67 percent to trade at $55.45 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 0.45 percent to trade at $52.99 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.48 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.40 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.46 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.18 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.21 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.81 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.41 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.31 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 1.21 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Wells Fargo downgraded Johnson & Johnson JNJ from Outperform to Market Perform.

Johnson & Johnson shares rose 0.62 percent to $113.50 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Southwest Airlines Co LUV reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.



• eBay Inc EBAY reported in-line results for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.



• QUALCOMM, Inc. QCOM reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter, but revenue missed expectations.



• Dow Chemical Co DOW reported upbeat for its latest quarter on Thursday.