A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week, the Philly Fed manufacturing index, retail sales for October, the Empire State manufacturing index for November and import prices for October will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on business inventories for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles is set to speak in Washington D.C. at 10:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak in Houston, TX at 11:00 a.m. ET. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in Madrid, Spain at 1:00 p.m. ET, while Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Minneapolis, MN at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 67 points to 25,111, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 8 points to 2,706.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 39.75 points to 6,808.00.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures rose 0.62 percent to trade at $66.53 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.14 percent to trade at $56.17 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET, while the EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.20 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.53 percent and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.02 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.07 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.32 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.2 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.75 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.36 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.34 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Raymond James upgraded Switch Inc SWCH from Market Perform to Strong Buy.

Switch shares rose 4.7 percent to $7.40 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Wednesday.
• American Midstream Partners LP AMID reported the sale of its refined products terminalling business to Sunoco LP SUN for around $125 million in cash.
• NetApp Inc. NTAP reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter. The company projected Q3 revenue of $1.55 billion to $1.65 billion.
• Smart & Final Stores Inc SFS reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter and raised its FY18 earnings guidance.