A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Drop, Apple Cuts Q1 Sales Guidance

Pre-open movers

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

Data on motor vehicle sales for December will be released today. The Challenger job-cut report for December will be released at 7:30 a.m. ET, while the ADP national employment report for December is schedule for release at 8:15 a.m. ET. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The ISM manufacturing index for December and data on construction spending for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 325 points to 23,000.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 35.75 points to 2,475.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index tumbled 137.50 points to 6,232.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.75 percent to trade at $55.32 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.02 percent to trade at $46.55 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.31 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.95 percent and German DAX 30 index declined 1.52 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.32 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 1.45 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.31 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.26 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.04 percent and India’s BSE Sensex dropped 1.05 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Evercore ISI Group upgraded Anthem Inc ANTM from In-Line to Outperform.

Anthem shares fell 2.66 percent to close at $255.02 on Wednesday.

Breaking News

• Apple Inc. AAPL slashed its previously issued first-quarter sales guidance Wednesday from a range of $89 billion to $93 billion to $84 billion — $7.5 billion less than the Street's expectations of $91.5 billion in sales.
• OHR Pharmaceutical Inc OHRP reported a merger agreement with NeuBase Therapeutics.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY announced plans to buy Celgene Corporation CELG at $50 per share in cash in a $74 billion deal.
• IZEA Worldwide Inc IZEA shares jumped around 33 percent in pre-market trading after the company announced it won multiple significant contracts in December.