A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Higher; Alphabet Tops Q4 Views

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade following upbeat quarterly results from Alphabet Inc. GOOGL. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Meta Platforms, Inc. FB, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. TMO, Humana Inc. HUM and QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM.

The ADP national employment report for January will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET. Analysts expect private payrolls rising 225,000 in January.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 48 points to 35,322.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 36.25 points to 4,571.25. Futures for the Nasdaq index jumped 235 points to 15,229.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 76,516,200 with around 913,920 deaths. India reported a total of at least 41,630,880 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 25,625,130 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $89.52 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $88.55 a barrel. U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 1.645 million barrels last week, the API said Tuesday. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Also check out: Executives Sell Over $10m Of 5 Stocks

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index climbed 0.6%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.3% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.3%, while German DAX climbed 0.5%. French government budget deficit narrowed to EUR 170.7 billion in 2021 from EUR 178.1 billion in the previous year. The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain increased by 17,173 from a month ago to 3.12 million in January, while number of foreign tourist arrivals jumped 355% year-over-year to 2.95 million in December.

Asian markets traded higher today. Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.68%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2% and India’s BSE SENSEX gained 1.2%.

Broker Recommendation

JP Morgan upgraded Kodiak Sciences Inc. KOD from Neutral to Overweight and announced a $90 price target.

Kodiak Sciences shares rose 6.1% to close at $62.27 on Tuesday.

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Breaking News

• Alphabet Inc. GOOG reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter. The company’s board also approved a 20-for-1 stock split.
• General Motors Company GM reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed views. The company said it sees FY22 net income of $9.4 billion to $10.8 billion.
• MicroStrategy Inc. MSTR recorded a digital asset impairment charge of $146.6 million in the recent fourth quarter, but the business intelligence firm continues to add more Bitcoin BTC/USDto its holdings.
• PayPal Holdings, Inc. PYPL reported downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter and issued weak earnings forecast for FY22.

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