A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Mixed Ahead Of Wholesale Trade Report

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mixed in early pre-market trade. Data on wholesale trade for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 28 points to 23,942.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 5 points to 2,598.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 22.25 points to 6,340.75.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.83 percent to trade at $64.27 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures slipped 1.24 percent to trade at $60.39 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.08 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1.03 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 1.17 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.70 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 1 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 2.32 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 3.10 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index dipped 4.05 percent and India’s BSE Sensex dropped 1.18 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at RBC Capital upgraded Twitter Inc TWTR from Underperform to Sector Perform.

Twitter shares rose 1.06 percent to $30.50 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• NVIDIA Corporation NVDA reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter on Thursday. Nvidia reported fourth quarter-adjusted earnings of $1.72 per share, beating estimates by 56 cents. Sales came in at $2.91 billion, beating estimates by $230 million. The company also issued strong first quarter sales guidance.



• Expedia Inc EXPE reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter. Adjusted EPS came in at 84 cents, missing estimates by 31 cents.



• Sage Therapeutics SAGE priced its 3.5 million share public offering of common stock at $164 per share.



• FireEye Inc FEYE reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter. The company issued strong first quarter and FY18 sales guidance.