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

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Labor Department's JOLTS report for April is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 107 points to 26,114, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 10.9 points to 2,885.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 29 points to 7,448.50.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures fell 0.1 percent to trade at $63.22 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.2 percent to trade at $54.11 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.3 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.2 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.8 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.4 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.2 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.2 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 2.27 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.86 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.43 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at UBS downgraded Lazard Ltd LAZ from Buy to Neutral.

Lazard shares rose 0.2 percent to close at $34.37 on Friday.

Breaking News

• Thor Industries, Inc. THO reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views.
• Novus Therapeutics Inc NVUS filed for a 7.1 million share offering by selling shareholders.
• Merck & Co., Inc. MRK reported the purchase of Tilos Therapeutics for total potential consideration of $773 million.
• Insys Therapeutics Inc INSY shares dipped over 52 percent in pre-market trading following news the company initiated a court-supervised process to facilitate asset sales via Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.