A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Gain; Alcoa Earnings Beat Views

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, after strong earnings from Alcoa Inc AA. Data on wholesale inventories for May will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard is set to speak in St. Louis. Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in Marquette, Michigan, while Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta J. Mester will speak in Sydney, Australia.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 75 points to 18,221.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 9.50 points to 2,139.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 22.50 points to 4,572.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 3.11 percent to trade at $47.68 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also gained 2.77 percent to trade at $46.02 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 1.99 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.94 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 1.63 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.01 percent, while French CAC 40 Index gained 1.63 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 2.46 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.65 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.82 percent and India’s BSE Sensex jumped 0.66 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded Seagate Technology PLC STX from Underweight to Equal-weight and raised the price target from $20.00 to $27.00.

Seagate shares surged 13.53 percent to $27.35 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Alcoa Inc AA reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its second quarter on Monday. To read the full news, click here.



• Fasternal Company FAST reported a 6.30 percent drop in profit for the second quarter despite revenue witnessing a modest growth of 1.2 percent as expenses increased more than the expected levels. As a result, its earnings and revenue missed the expectations. To read the full news, click here.



• Seagate Technology PLC STX issued a strong revenue forecast for the fourth quarter and announced plans to lower 14 percent of its global workforce by the end of fiscal 2017. To read the full news, click here.



• Sage Therapeutics Inc SAGE revealed that its Phase 2 clinical study of SAGE-547 has achieved primary endpoint for the treatment of severe postpartum depression (PPD). To read the full news, click here.