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. Data on farm prices for November will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 94 points to 28,713 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 8.4 points to 3,252.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 33 points to 8,837.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $66.87 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.3% to trade at $61.85 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET, while the EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. 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 higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.2%, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.3% and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.4%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.4%, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.5%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.36%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.3%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.08% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 1%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at PiperJaffray downgraded Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SBPH from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $10 to $1.7.

Spring Bank shares fell 66.8% to close at $1.20 on Thursday.

Breaking News

• Flexion Therapeutics Inc FLXN reported the FDA approval of sNDA to revise ZILRETTA product label.
• Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. BW disclosed that it has won a $4 million contract renewal to provide maintenance services for Public Service Co. of New Mexico's San Juan Generating Station.
• WESCO International, Inc. WCC reported that it had raised its offer to buy Anixter International Inc. AXE from $90 to $93.50 per share in cash and stock.
• China Finance Online Co. JRJC reported a Q3 loss of $0.09 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.26 per share. Its sales slipped to $8.051 million from $8.614 million.