A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain Ahead Of Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on personal income and consumer spending for May will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Chicago PMI for June is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly is set to speakin Aspen, Colorado at 3:20 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 79 points to 26,625, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 6.1 points to 2,937.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 5.5 points to 7,696.00.

Oil prices traded mostly flat as Brent crude futures fell 0.1% to trade at $65.66 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.1% to trade at $59.46 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.3%, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.3% and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.5%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.3%, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.3%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.29%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.28%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.6% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.48%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Piper Jaffray downgraded Biogen Inc BIIB from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $280 to $250.

Biogen shares rose 0.7 percent to close at $239.77 on Thursday.

Breaking News

• Nike Inc NKE reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.
• Sorrento Therapeutics Inc SRNE reported a proposed public offering of common stock and warrants.
• Smart Global Holdings Inc SGH reported worse-than-expected Q3 results and issued Q4 guidance below analyst estimates.
• Progress Software Corp PRGS reported better-than-expected Q2 results and issued strong earnings guidance.