A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Economic Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. The ISM non-manufacturing index for December and data on factory orders will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Atlanta GA at 12:40 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 26 points to 23,369, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 5.3 points to 2,526.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dipped 25.25 points to 6,408.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 2.4 percent to trade at $58.43 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures climbed 2.47 percent to trade at $49.15 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.16 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.52 percent and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.63 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.65 percent, while French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.49 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 2.44 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.82 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.72 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.43 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Pivotal Research upgraded Adobe Inc ADBE from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $252 to $262.

Adobe shares rose 4.86 percent to close at $226.19 on Friday.

Breaking News

• SAGE Therapeutics Inc SAGE disclosed that its SAGE-217 met its primary and secondary endpoints in its Phase 3 clinical trial in postpartum depression.
• Arthur J Gallagher & Co AJG announced plans to acquire Stackhouse.
• Mattel, Inc. MAT announced a global licensing agreement with global boy band BTS.
• KKR & Co Inc KKR entered into a loan agreement with Aimmune Therapeutics Inc AIMT for $170 million to fund AR101 commercialization and pipeline advancement.