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 manufacturing PMI for June is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET. The ISM manufacturing index for June and data on construction spending for May will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 289 points to 26,856.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 34.8 points to 2,976.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 138 points to 7,824.50. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to resume trade talks, and the United States will back down for now from a threat to impose more tariffs, easing, at least temporarily, the high-stakes multibillion dollar trade war that has made investors around the world nervous.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 2.3% to trade at $66.25 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 2.5% to trade at $59.91 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.4%, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.9% and German DAX 30 index gaining 1.3%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 1.2%, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.8%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 2.13%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.28%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.22% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.48%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Baird upgraded Generac Holdings Inc. GNRC from Neutral to Outperform and raised the price target from $64 to $86.

Generac shares fell 0.5 percent to close at $69.41 on Friday.

Breaking News

• Applied Materials, Inc AMAT announced plans.to acquire Kokusai Electric from KKR & Co Inc KKR for $2.2 billion.
• Genesee & Wyoming Inc GWR agreed to be acquired by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. BIP and GIC for $112 per share in cash.
• Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc SC reported a $1.1 billion buyback plan, and raised its quarterly dividend from $0.20 to $0.22 per share.
• Retrophin Inc RTRX reported the FDA approval of THIOLA EC 100mg and 300mg tablets for the treatment of cystinuria.