A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of Earnings, Economic Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade after closing mixed in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Analog Devices, Inc. ADI, Baidu Inc BIDU, Genuine Parts GPC, Garmin GRMN and Hilton Worldwide Holdings. HLT.

Data on retail sales and the Producer Price Index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for January will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while data on business inventories for December and the NAHB housing market index for February 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 Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren will speak at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13 points to 31,445.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 3 points to 3,924.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 28 points to 13,739.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 27,756,720 with around 488,100 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,937,320 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 9,921,980 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.1% to trade at $64.04 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.8% to trade at $58.44 a barrel. The API’s data on crude stocks will be released later during the day.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.5% and STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.3%. The French CAC 40 Index declined 0.1%, German DAX 30 fell 0.7% while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.3%. Eurozone construction output in fell 2.3% year-over-year in December. Annual inflation rate in the UK rose to 0.7% in January from 0.6% in December, while producer prices fell 0.2% year-on-year in January

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.58%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.43% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.8%. Australia’s Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Economic Index rose 0.3% month-over-month in January. Imports to Japan declined 9.5% year-over-year to JPY 6.10 trillion in January, whole exports increased 6.4% year-on-year to JPY 5.78 trillion.

Broker Recommendation

Jefferies upgraded Oshkosh Corporation OSK from Hold to Buy.

Oshkosh shares rose 2% to $101.00 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Owens Corning OC reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.
• The European Commission has announced an agreement with Pfizer Inc PFE and BioNTech SE BNTX for 200 million more doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in addition to the 300 million doses committed to the EU through this year.
• Henry Schein, Inc. HSIC posted upbeat results for its fourth quarter.
• Andersons Inc ANDE reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.

Check out other breaking news here