A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Higher Ahead Of Earnings, Jobless Claims Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones and S&P 500 recorded gains for the third straight session on Wednesday. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Ford Motor Company F and Cigna Corp CI, AmerisourceBergen Corp. ABC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY and T-Mobile Us Inc TMUS.

The Challenger job-cut report for January is scheduled for release at 7:30 a.m. ET, while data on initial jobless claims, nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on factory orders for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET, while San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 17 points to 30,644.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 4.50 points to 3,828.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 47.50 points to 13,441.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 26,557,350 with around 450,790 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,790,180 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 9,339,420 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $58.80 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.7% to trade at $56.09 a barrel. US crude oil inventories declined 1 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were slightly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.3%, German DAX 30 gained 0.2% while London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%. Eurozone's retail trade increased 2.0% in December following a revised 5.7% decline in November, while construction PMI slipped to 44.1 in January from 45.5 in December. UK construction PMI declined to 49.2 in January from 54.6 in the earlier month, while new car registrations dipped 39.5% year-over-year to 90,249 units in January.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.06%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.44% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.66%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.9%, while India’s BSE Sensex surged 0.7%. Australia's trade surplus rose to AUD 6.79 billion in December versus revised AUD 5.01 billion in the earlier month. Exports from Australia increased 3%, while imports declined 2% in December.

Broker Recommendation

SVB Leerink downgraded GW Pharmaceuticals plc GWPH from Outperform to Market Perform and raised the price target from $200 to $220.

GW Pharmaceuticals shares fell 0.6% to $210.21 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• eBay Inc EBAY reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and issued strong Q1 guidance.
• Nokia Oyj NOK reported fourth quarter and full-year results on Thursday. The firm reported earnings per share of EUR 0.26 ($0.31) for the full-year 2020 compared with EUR 0.22 ($0.26) for full-year 2019.
• QUALCOMM, Inc. QCOM reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed views. The company said it expects Q2 adjusted earnings of $1.55 to $1.75 per share on sales of $7.2 billion to $8 billion.
• GrubHub Inc GRUB reported a loss for its fourth quarter.

Check out other breaking news here