A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Gain; Apple Beats Q1 Views

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, after Apple reported upbeat quarterly results. Facebook Inc FB and Metlife Inc MET will report earnings after the closing bell. Data on motor vehicle sales for January will be released today. The ADP national employment report for January is schedule for release at 8:15 a.m. ET, while the Markit PMI manufacturing data for January will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. The ISM manufacturing index for January and construction spending data for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 44 points to 19,837.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 5.75 points to 2,280.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 28.50 points to 5,140.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 0.72 percent to trade at $55.98 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.62 percent to trade at $53.14 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 higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.25 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.97 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.98 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.59 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 1.21 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.56 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.18 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.31 percent and India’s BSE Sensex climbed 1.76 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at BMO Capital downgraded United Parcel Service, Inc. UPS from Outperform to Market Perform.

UPS shares fell 0.34 percent to $108.76 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Apple Inc. AAPL reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Tuesday. iPhone sales in the quarter rose to 78.3 million, versus 74.8 million in the year-ago quarter.



• Altria Group Inc MO reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter on Wednesday.



• ONEOK, Inc. OKE announced plans to acquire outstanding shares of Oneok Partners LP OKS for $9.3 billion in stock.



• Automatic Data Processing ADP reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter, but lowered its 2017 growth forecast.