A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Economic Data, Fed Minutes

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on housing starts for January and the Producer Price Index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on e-commerce sales for the fourth quarter and the Census Bureau quarterly services report will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 8:10 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 11:45 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 1:30 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 68 points to 29,279 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 7.7 points to 3,377.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 33.5 points to 9,669.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.4% to trade at $58.5 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.3% to trade at $52.75 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.4%, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.5% and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.4%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.8%, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.6%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.89%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.46%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.32% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 1.05%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Bernstein upgraded NVIDIA Corporation NVDA from Market Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $300 to $360.

NVIDIA shares rose 1.5% to $301.00 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Groupon Inc GRPN reported weaker-than-expected Q4 results and announced plans to exit the goods industry.
• Huawei Technologies Ltd.'s appeal against a United States law that restricted its ability to do business in the country was rejected by a federal judge on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
• Herbalife Nutrition Ltd HLF reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.
• Alphabet Inc. GOOGL is closing down Makani, a company that generates power with kites, the Financial Times reported.