A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Up; Earnings In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from several companies. Alphabet Inc GOOGL, Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN will report earnings after the closing bell. Data on durable goods orders, U.S. international trade in goods and initial jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The pending home sales index for March is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for April is schedule for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 26 points to 20,931.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 3.25 points to 2,385.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 12 points to 5,548.25.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.04 percent to trade at $51.28 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures slipped 0.99 percent to trade at $49.13 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.90 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.32 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.18 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.48 percent, while French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.23 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.19 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.49 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.36 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.34 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Piper Jaffray upgraded Paypal Holdings Inc PYPL from Underweight to Neutral.

PayPal shares rose 4.71 percent to $46.50 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Domino's Pizza, Inc. TWTR reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.



• American Airlines Group Inc AAL reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter.



• Ford Motor Company F reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter.



• Comcast Corporation CMCSA reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter.