A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Tumble Ahead Of Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings reports from Twitter, Inc. TWTR, Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN, YUM! Brands, Inc. YUM, Kellogg Company K and Philip Morris International Inc. PM.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in Dallas, TX at 9:15 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak in Prague at 9:30 a.m. ET. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard is set to speak in St. Cloud, Minnesota at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 151 points to 25,176, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 16.5 points to 2,713.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 41.75 points to 6,954.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.4 percent to trade at $62.44 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.7 percent to trade at $53.64 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.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.13 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.58 percent and German DAX 30 index dropped 1.28 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.14 percent, while French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.61 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.59 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.21 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.3 percent and India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.01 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Jefferies upgraded Guess?, Inc. GES from Hold to Buy.

Guess? shares rose 1.4 percent to $20.51 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Marathon Petroleum Corp MPC reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter and raised its quarterly dividend from $0.46 to $0.53 per share.
• Tapestry Inc TPR reported weaker-than-expected results for its second quarter and issued downbeat FY19 earnings forecast.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter. The company also added $100 million to its buyback plan.
• FireEye Inc FEYE reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, but issued weak first-quarter earnings guidance.