A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Rise; GM, Coca-Cola Earnings In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after closing slightly lower in the previous session. Bitcoin prices traded lower today after hitting record highs on Tuesday. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from General Motors Company GM, Bunge Ltd BG, Coca-Cola Co KO and Uber Technologies Inc UBER.

The Consumer Price Index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on wholesale inventories for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the U.S. Treasury budget statement for January will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 85 points to 31,363.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 12.50 points to 3,918.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 59.75 points to 13,740.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 27,192,910 with around 468,200 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,858,370 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 9,599,560 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.7% to trade at $61.54 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $58.70 a barrel. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a drop of 3.5 million barrels in crude inventories last week. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mixed today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.5% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index declined 0.1%, German DAX 30 slipped 0.2% while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.2%. Industrial production in France dropped 0.8% in December versus a revised 0.7% decline in November. Germany’s annual inflation rate was confirmed at 1% for January.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.19%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.43% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.91%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5%, while India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.04%. China's producer prices increased 0.3% year-over-year in January, while the consumer price index fell 0.3% year-on-year in January. Producer prices in Japan dropped 1.6% year-on-year during January.

Broker Recommendation

Piper Sandler upgraded Hain Celestial Group, Inc. HAIN from Neutral to Overweight and raised the price target from $42 to $50..

Hain Celestial shares rose 2% to close at $42.34 on Tuesday.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• Twitter Inc TWTR reported stronger-than-expected earnings and sales for its fourth quarter. The company’s Q4 DAUs surged 24% year over year.
• Eli Lilly and Co LLY said its antibody treatments have received an emergency use authorization from the United States Food and Drug Administration.
• Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO reported upbeat results for its second quarter. The company said it sees Q3 adjusted EPS of $0.80-$0.82 and year-over-year sales growth of 3.5%-5.5%.
• Amazon.com, Inc AMZN-backed Rivian Automotive Inc may go public as early as September, Bloomberg reported.

Check out other breaking news here