A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Auto Sales

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on motor vehicle sales for March will be released today. Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in Duluth, Minnesota at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74 points to 23,625.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 12 points to 2,586.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 32.50 points to 6,425.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.50 percent to trade at $67.98 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.49 percent to trade at $63.32 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.72 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.71 percent and German DAX 30 index falling 1.10 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.24 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.58 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.45 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.29 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.84 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.35 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Loop Capital downgraded GameStop Corp. GME from Buy to Hold.

GameStop shares fell 1.64 percent to $12.61 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Centrum Capital Ltd agreed to sell its money exchange business to Ebix, Inc. EBIX for 12 billion rupees ($184.56 million).



• Cancer Genetics Inc CGIX reported downbeat results for its fourth quarter on Monday. The company posted a loss of $0.35 per share on revenue of $7.5 million.
• Enphase Energy Inc ENPH disclosed a 9.524 million share common stock offering via selling holders.



• Switch Inc. SWCH reported a Q4 loss of $67 million, or $2.09 per share. The company posted revenue of $99.3 million, missing analysts’ estimates of $99.6 million.