A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Earnings, Fed Meeting

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from United Technologies Corporation UTX, 3M Company MMM, Pfizer Inc. PFE and Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT. Apple Inc. AAPL and Starbucks Corporation SBUX will release earnings after the closing bell. The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today. Data on durable goods orders for December will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index for November will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Conference Board consumer confidence index for January and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 63 points to 28,544 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 7.65 points to 3,247.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 37.5 points to 8,992.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.9% to trade at $58.08 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $52.84 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.3%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.1% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.2%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.2%, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.1%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.55%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.15%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.75% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.46%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Imperial Capital downgraded Vivint Smart Home, Inc. VVNT from Outperform to In-Line and announced a $12.5 price target.

Vivint Smart Home shares fell 0.1% to close at $11.71 on Monday.

Breaking News

• Polaris Inc PII reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed views.
• Lear Corporation LEA reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.
• Brown & Brown, Inc. BRO reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.
• Acceleron Pharma Inc XLRN shares surged around 65% in pre-market trading after the company announced Sotatercept achieved primary and secondary endpoints in PULSAR Phase 2 trial.