A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Rise; Twitter Sales Miss Views

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Pandora Media Inc P, Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI, NVIDIA Corporation NVDA and Expedia Inc EXPE will report earnings after the closing bell. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while wholesale inventories report for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President Bullard is set to speak in St. Louis, MO. at 9:10 a.m. ET, while Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans will speak in Chicago, Ill. at 1:10 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 33 points to 20,035.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 4.50 points to 2,294.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 6 points to 5,197.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 0.60 percent to trade at $55.45 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.63 percent to trade at $52.67 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 0.60 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.52 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.69 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.24 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.88 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.53 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.17 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.51 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.14 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Mizuho downgraded GrubHub Inc GRUB from Buy to Neutral.

GrubHub shares fell 3.46 percent to close at $39.86 on Wednesday.

Breaking news

• Twitter Inc TWTR reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, but sales missed expectations.



• Whole Foods Market, Inc. WFM reported weaker-than-expected sales for its first quarter and cut its guidance for the year.



• The Coca-Cola Co KO reported in-line earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.



• CVS Health Corp CVS reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Thursday.