A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up; All Eyes On Fed Decision

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on new home sales for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 49 points to 26,569, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 6.5 points to 2,927.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 24.25 points to 7,619.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.29 percent to trade at $81.63 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.25 percent to trade at $72.10 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 higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.16 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.03 percent and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.14 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.14 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.25 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.39 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.15 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.92 percent and India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.30 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Oppenheimer upgraded GoPro Inc GPRO from Perform to Outperform.

GoPro shares rose 5.74 percent to $7.00 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Agilent Technologies A announced plans to acquire ACEA Biosciences. However, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Nike Inc NKE reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter. The company said gross margins increased from 43.7 percent to 44.2 percent in the same quarter of last year. Inventories were $5.2 billion, unchanged from last year.
• Cintas Corporation CTAS reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter and raised FY19 guidance.
• KB Home KBH reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter on Tuesday.