A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Climb Ahead Of Fed Meeting

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today. Data on factory orders for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 103 points to 26,072.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 11 points to 2,852.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 27 points to 7,388.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.8 percent to trade at $68.10 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.7 percent to trade at $59.52 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.8 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.6 percent and German DAX 30 index climbed 0.8 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.4 percent, while French CAC 40 Index gained 0.4 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.08 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.19 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.18 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.7 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded Yum! Brands, Inc. YUM from Overweight to Neutral.

Yum Brands shares fell 0.62 percent to close at $100.24 on Monday.

Breaking News

• Michaels Companies Inc MIK reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter, but issued weak forecast for the first quarter.
• Tilray Inc TLRY reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates. The company said total kilogram equivalents sold increased almost threefold year-over-year to 2,053 kilograms.
• DSW Inc. DSW reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.
• Aquabounty Technologies Inc AQB reported a common stock offering. The size was not disclosed.