A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Home-Price, Consumer Confidence Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index and the FHFA house price index for December will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 9:45 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 35 points to 28,003 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 4.2 points to 3,230.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 17 points to 9,108.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.3% to trade at $55.58 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.4% to trade at $51.23 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.5%, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.9% and German DAX 30 index declining 1.1%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.8%, while French CAC 40 Index slipped 1.1%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 3.34%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.27%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.60% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.20%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Jefferies downgraded Tesla Inc TSLA from Buy to Hold and raised the price target from $600 to $800.

Tesla shares rose 0.8% to $840.60 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Home Depot Inc HD reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and raiseD quarterly dividend from $1.36 to $1.50 per share.
• Perrigo Company PLC PRGO and Catalent Inc CTLT announced the FDA approval of Perrigo's AB-rated generic version of ProAir HFA.
• Mallinckrodt PLC MNK reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.
• HP Inc HPQ reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and issued strong FY20 earnings. The company also announced a $15 billion buyback program and also called the Xerox proposal a "flawed value exchange, irresponsible capital structure, overstated synergies.”