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

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly lower in early pre-market trade. The Dow Jones settled higher by around 100 points on Monday after tumbling more than 1,000 points earlier in the session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Johnson & Johnson JNJ, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, American Express AXP, 3M MMM and Microsoft Corporation MSFT.

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today. The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index and FHFA House Price Index for November will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index and Richmond Fed manufacturing index for January will be released at 10:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 37 points to 34,216.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 25.25 points to 4,378.50. Futures for the Nasdaq index dropped 151 points to 14,350.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 72,958,690 with around 891,590 deaths. India reported a total of at least 39,799,200 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 24,134,940 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $86.73 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $83.62 a barrel. The API’s report on crude oil stocks will be released today.

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A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.5%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.6% and London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.6%, while German DAX gained 0.4%. The Ifo business climate indicator for Germany increased to 95.7 in January from a ten-month low level of 94.8 in December. Spanish producer price inflation rate increased to a new high of 35.9% year-over-year in December from a revised 32.2% a month ago.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.66%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.67%, while China’s Shanghai Composite fell 2.58%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 2.5% and India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.6%. The annual inflation rate in Australia increased to 3.5% in the fourth quarter from 3.0% in the previous quarter, while NAB business confidence index declined to -12 in December from 12 a month ago.

Broker Recommendation

Keybanc downgraded Anaplan, Inc. PLAN from Overweight to Sector Weight.

Anaplan shares fell 2.7% to $44.07 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• IBM Common Stock IBM reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Monday.
• Nio Inc. NIO has followed rival Tesla Inc. TSLA into the world of cryptocurrencies by issuing non fungible tokens (NFTs)to its employees.
• Brown & Brown, Inc. BRO reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.
• Antibody treatments made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN and Eli Lilly And Co LLY are not likely to work against the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and their emergency use authorization has been rescinded by the U.S. Food And Drug Administration.

Check out other breaking news here