A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Surge On First Trading Day Of 2017

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Markit manufacturing PMI for December will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the ISM manufacturing index for December and construction spending report for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 154 points to 19,874.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 18.25 points to 2,254.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 42 points to 4,906.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 2.24 percent to trade at $58.09 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 2.25 percent to trade at $54.93 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 0.44 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.71 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.03 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.43 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.47 percent. U.K. manufacturing PMI increased to 56.1 in December, while German jobless claims slipped by 17,000 in December from November.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.16 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.68 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.04 percent and India’s BSE Sensex climbed 0.18 percent. China's Caixin manufacturing PMI rose to 51.9 December, versus a reading of 50.9 in the prior month.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at RBC Capital upgraded Groupon Inc GRPN from Underperform to Sector Perform.

Groupon shares rose 3.01 percent to $3.42 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• SM Energy Co SM agreed to sell its non-operated Eagle Ford assets for $800 million.



• Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corp ITEK disclosed that it did not achieve its primary endpoint in first Phase 3 trial of trabodenoson for glaucoma.



• Clovis Oncology Inc CLVS reported a proposed offering of around $175 million.



• Sprague Resources LP SRLP agreed to acquire natural gas and electricity business from Global Partners LP for around $17.3 million.