A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Down; Dow Futures Fall Over 100 Points

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data in import and export prices for December will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on wholesale trade inventories for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in Lake Forest, IL at 9:00 a.m. ET, while St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard will speak in St. Louis at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 109 points to 25,264.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 10.50 points to 2,741.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 33.50 points to 6,653.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.64 percent to trade at $69.26 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.95 percent to trade at $63.56 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.06 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.47 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.85 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.02 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.42 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.26 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.20 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.23 percent and India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.03 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Barclays downgraded Alaska Air Group, Inc. ALK from Overweight to Equal-Weight.

Alaska Air shares fell 2.01 percent to close at $71.29 on Tuesday.

Breaking news

• SUPERVALU INC. SVU reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed estimates.



• AmTrust Financial Services Inc AFSI disclosed that Stone Point Capital and Karfunkel family jointly proposed to acquire all shares of Am Trust Financial common stock not controlled by the family for $12.25 per share in cash. The family currently owns or controls approximately 43 percent of the outstanding shares.



• MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc MSM reported weaker-than-expected results for its first quarter.



• VOXX International Corp VOXX reported stronger-than-expected sales for its third quarter. The company reported quarterly profit of $8.6 million.