A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Flat Ahead Of Existing-Home Sales Report

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade. Data on existing home sales for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3 points to 19,902.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures dropped 2.25 points to 2,264.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 4.50 points to 4,951.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 0.54 percent to trade at $55.65 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also rose 0.53 percent to trade at $53.58 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.94 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.36 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.10 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.15 percent, while French CAC 40 Index declined 0.56 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.26 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.37 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.11 percent and India’s BSE Sensex declined 0.25 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Raymond James downgraded JetBlue Airways Corporation JBLU from Outperform to Market Perform.

JetBlue shares fell 1.5 percent to $22.46 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Finish Line Inc. FINL reported weaker-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter and issued a downbeat forecast.



• FedEx Corporation FDX reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its second quarter on Tuesday. To read the full news, click here.



• Shares of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc MACK fell more than 20 percent early Wednesday morning after the company announced that it will stop a Phase 2 study of its treatment to fight breast cancer. The Phase 2 study was called HERMIONE and evaluated its only drug MM-302, an antibody-targeted liposomal doxorubicin intended HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients who had previously been treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin®), pertuzumab (Perjeta®) and ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1, Kadcyla®). To read the full news, click here.



• Nike Inc NKE posted stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter on Tuesday. To read the full news, click here.