A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Ahead of Fed Meeting, Apple Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings reports from several companies. Apple Inc. AAPL will release quarterly earnings after the closing bell. The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today. Data on personal income and consumer spending for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index for May is schedule for release at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Conference Board consumer confidence index for July and the pending home sales index for June will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 41 points to 27,157, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 6.8 points to 3,015.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 32.5 points to 7,968.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.14% to trade at $64.33 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1% to trade at $57.43 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.6%, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.8% and German DAX 30 index dropping 1.2%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.1%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.6%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.43%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.14%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.39% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.77%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Barclays upgraded Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc ZB from Underweight to Equal-Weight and raised the price target from $117 to $140.

Zimmer Biomet shares rose 0.1 percent to close at $134.53 on Monday.

Breaking News

• Procter & Gamble Co PG reported better-than-expected Q4 results.
• Altria Group Inc MO reported in-line earnings for its second quarter, while sales exceeded views.
• Merck & Co., Inc. MRK reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter.
• ConocoPhillips COP announced weaker-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.