A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on factory orders for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 72 points to 26,322.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 3 point to 2,893.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 7.5 points to 7,596.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.5 percent to trade at $70.68 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.4 percent to trade at $63.36 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.5 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.1 percent and German DAX 30 index slipped 0.2 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.1 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.2 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.21 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.47 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.05 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.42 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at UBS downgraded Starbucks Corporation SBUX from Buy to Neutral and raised the price target from $72 to $78.

Starbucks shares fell 1.2 percent to $74.15 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Uniqure NV QURE reported that it has received FDA Fast Track designation for AMT-130 gene therapy for the treatment of Huntington's disease.
• 2U Inc TWOU announced plans to buy Trilogy Education for $750 million in cash and stock.
• Versum Materials Inc VSM disclosed that it has received revised takeover proposal from Merck KGaA, from $48 per share to $53 per share in cash.
• United Therapeutics Corporation UTHR disclosed that its BEAT study of esuberaprost did not meet primary endpoint.