A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up; Treasury Yields Retreat

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after closing mixed in the previous session. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.54% on Tuesday. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Dicks Sporting Goods Inc DKS, Navistar International Corp NAV and Thor Industries, Inc. THO.

The NFIB small business optimism index for February is scheduled for release at 6:00 a.m. ET, while the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index for the latest week will be released at 8:55 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 191 points to 31,967.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 40.25 points at 3,859.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 266 points to 12,563.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 29,045,440 with around 525,810 deaths. India reported a total of at least 11,244,780 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 11,051,660 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $68.59 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $65.30 a barrel. The API’s report on crude inventories will be released later during the day.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.4%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.2%, German DAX 30 gained 0.4% while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.4%. The Eurozone economy contracted by 0.7% in the fourth quarter following a record 12.4% growth in the earlier three-month period. The German current account surplus widened slightly to €16.9 billion in January from €16.6 billion a year ago, while trade surplus rose to €14.3 billion from €13.7 billion. French payroll employment in the private sector fell 0.1% to 19.4 million during the fourth quarter. Italy's industrial production increased 1% in January following a revised 0.2% rise in December.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.99%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.82% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.81%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5%, while India’s BSE Sensex rose 1.2%. National Australia Bank's index of business confidence climbed to 16 in February from 12 a month ago. The Japanese GDP expanded by 2.8% on quarter during the three months to December versus a preliminary reading of 3%, while household spending fell 6.1% in real terms during January.

Broker Recommendation

KeyBanc maintained Oracle Corporation ORCL with an Overweight and raised the price target from $70 to $82.

Oracle shares rose 1.4% to $73.14 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Stitch Fix Inc SFIX reported weaker-than-expected sales for its second quarter. The company also said its Q2 net revenue per active client declined 7% year-over-year.
• SpaceX, the space company of Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk, plans to connect large vehicles ranging from semi-trucks to aircraft to its Starlink satellite network service. Musk clarified that the company is not connecting Tesla cars to Starlink.
• Waitr Holdings Inc WTRH reported downbeat results for its fourth quarter.
• Apple Inc AAPL rolled out a series of important security patches for a wide swathe of devices it manufactures ranging from watches to personal computers on Monday.

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