A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up; Crude Oil Rises 1%

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after recording sharp gains in the previous week. The US economy added 49,000 jobs in January versus market expectations for a 50,000 rise. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Hasbro, Inc. HAS and Aecom ACM and Global Payments Inc GPN.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET. The Investor Movement Index for January is scheduled for release at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 107 points to 31,149.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 10.75 points to 3,891.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 48.75 points to 13,646.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 27,007,390 with around 463,470 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,838,190 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 9,524,640 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.1% to trade at $59.99 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.1% to trade at $57.46 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 4 to 299 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.4%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.6%, German DAX 30 gained 0.2% while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.7%. Spain's industrial production declined 0.6% year-over-year in December versus a revised 3.7% drop in the previous month, while German industrial production stalled in December.

Asian markets traded higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.12%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.03% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.11%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6%, while India’s BSE Sensex rose 1.2%. Japan’s total bank lending increased 6.1% in January, while current account surplus widened to JPY 1,166 billion during December. China's foreign exchange reserves shrank to $3.211 trillion in January.

Broker Recommendation

SVB Leerink maintained Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. ZBH with a Outperform and raised the price target from $185 to $190.

Zimmer Biomet shares fell 0.5% to close at $159.89 on Friday.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• Apple Inc AAPL is no longer negotiating with Kia and its parent Hyundai Motor Company, the latter two have confirmed, Bloomberg reported.
• Ocugen Inc OCGN announced the sale of 3 million common shares at $7.65 per share in a registered direct offering.
• SIFCO Industries Inc SIF reported earnings of $0.51 per share for the first quarter, versus a year-ago net loss of $0.24 per share. Its net sales fell 4.3% to $25.1 million.
• Renesas Electronics Corporation RNECY announced plans to acquire Dialog Semiconductor DLGNF in an all-cash offer of about 4.9 billion euros ($5.9 billion).

Check out other breaking news here