A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Surge On Last Trading Day Of 2018

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for December is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 214 points to 23,249.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 21 points to 2,507.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 59.75 points to 6,353.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 2.42 percent to trade at $54.50 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 1.96 percent to trade at $46.22 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.73 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.33 percent and German DAX 30 index climbed 1.71 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.07 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.91 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.31 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.34 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 percent and India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.02 percent.

Breaking News

• Bridgeline Digital Inc BLIN reported a Q4 loss of $0.13 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.02 per share. Its sales declined to $2.8 million from $4.1 million.
• AFLAC Incorporated AFL reported a $20 million equity investment in Singapore Life.
• Transenterix Inc TRXC disclosed a $75 million common stock offering.
• Regional Health Properties Inc RHE reported a 1-for-12 reverse stock split effective December 31.