A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up; Fed Decision In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from McDonald's Corporation MCD, General Electric Company GE, AT&T Inc. T and The Boeing Company BA. Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Facebook, Inc. FB will release earnings after the closing bell. An advance report on U.S. international trade in goods for December will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The pending home sales index for December and the State Street Investor Confidence Index for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 45 points to 28,755 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 6.45 points to 3,284.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 28.25 points to 9,133.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.9% to trade at $59.32 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.9% to trade at $53.96 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.5%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.4% and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.1%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.2%, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.3%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.71%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.82%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.75% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.46%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at KeyBanc upgraded Harley-Davidson, Inc. HOG from Underweight to Sector Weight.

Harley-Davidson shares fell 3% to close at $33.79 on Tuesday.

Breaking News

• Apple Inc. AAPL reported better-than-expected Q1 results and issued Q2 sales guidance above estimates.
• Starbucks Corporation SBUX reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter. Starbucks said the company's fiscal year 2020 guidance is unchanged from what was provided in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report, which excludes any impact of the coronavirus.
• Xilinx, Inc. XLNX reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views. The company also issued Q4 sales guidance below estimates.
• eBay Inc EBAY reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter, but issued weak sales guidance for the first quarter.