A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Gain; Yellen Testimony In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to testify before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Federal Open Market Committee will release Beige book report at 2:00 p.m. ET. Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George is set to speak in Denver at 2:15 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 33 points to 21,400.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 4.25 points to 2,428.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 17 points to 5,734.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.35 percent to trade at $48.16 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 1.53 percent to trade at $45.73 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.55 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.75 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.66 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.88 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.88 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.48 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.64 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.17 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.18 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey upgraded NVIDIA Corporation NVDA from Neutral to Buy.

NVIDIA shares rose 0.85 percent to $157.20 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc MSM reported in-line profit for its third quarter, but issued weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.



• Twitter Inc TWTR named Intuit’s Ned Segal as its new CFO.



• Fastenal Company FAST posted stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter.



• Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc ZBH disclosed that its CEO David C. Dvorak is stepping down. The company named CFO Daniel Florin as interim CEO. Zimmer expects Q2 earnings to be at or near the lower end of its earlier issued outlook.