US Stock Futures Up; All Eyes On Jobs Report - Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures rose in early pre-market trade, ahead of jobs data. Data on nonfarm payroll employment for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on consumer credit for December will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 26 points to 15,575.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.60 points to 1,771.20. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 18 points to 3,505.25.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.35%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.06% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.31%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.16% and French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.16%. UK industrial output climbed 0.5% in the final three months of 2013. Asian markets ended higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surged 2.17%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1%, China's Composite Index rose 0.56% and India's BSE Sensex surged 0.32%. China's current account surplus widened to $49.8 billion in the fourth quarter from $40.4 billion in the third quarter. The HSBC China services PMI dropped to a reading of 50.7 in January versus 50.9 in December.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded Myriad Genetics

MYGN

from “underperform” to “neutral.” Myriad Genetics' shares closed at $30.57 yesterday.

Breaking news

Cigna CI reported a drop in its fourth-quarter earnings. Cigna's quarterly earnings fell to $361 million, $1.29 per share, from $406 million, $1.41 per share, in the year-earlier period. To read the full news, click here.
On Thursday, LinkedIn LNKD posted earnings results that were above consensus. The career-targeted social networking site now has approximately 277 million members, but LinkedIn neglected to say how many of them are active users. To read the full news, click here.
Five Prime Therapeutics FPRX announced today the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 3,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $12.50 per share for an aggregate offering of $37.5 million, before underwriting discounts, commissions and estimated expenses. To read the full news, click here.
Tower Group International TWGP announced today that its Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael H. Lee, has resigned, effective immediately, from the Company and the Company's Board of Directors to pursue personal and other career opportunities. To read the full news, click here.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs