A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Surge, All Eyes On Fed Decision

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings report from McDonald's Corporation MCD, Facebook, Inc. FB, Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Visa Inc. V and Tesla, Inc. TSLA.

The ADP national employment report for January is schedule for release at 8:15 a.m. ET, while Gross Domestic Product report for the fourth quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The pending home sales index for December is schedule for release 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 gained 81 points to 24,634.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 7.5 points to 2,647.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 52.75 points to 6,690.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.98 percent to trade at $61.92 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.03 percent to trade at $53.86 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.58 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.11 percent and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.39 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 1.4 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.53 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.52 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.4 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.72 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.01 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Raymond James downgraded Whirlpool Corporation WHR from Outperform to Market Perform.

Whirlpool shares fell 2.2 percent to $133.50 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views.
• AT&T Inc. T reported in-line earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed estimates.
• Apple Inc. AAPL reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter. The company issued weak second-quarter sales guidance.
• Ingersoll-Rand PLC IR reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.