A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain; Alphabet, Amazon.com Earnings In Focus

Pre-Open Movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones added over 200 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Alphabet Inc GOOGL and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Pfizer Inc. PFE, United Parcel Service, Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR FN.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester and Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 228 points to 30,338.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 32 points to 3,797.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 125.75 points to 13,362.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 26,321,450 with around 443,360 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,766,240 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 9,229,320 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 2.1% to trade at $57.55 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 2.2% to trade at $54.73 a barrel. The API’s report on crude inventories will be released later in the day.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbed 1.2%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 1.8%, German DAX 30 gained 1.2% while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.7%. The Eurozone economy shrank 0.7% on quarter during the final three months of 2020. Annual inflation rate in France rose to 0.6% in January, while UK’s annual house price growth slowed to 6.4% in January.

Asian markets traded higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.97%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.81% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 1.23%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.5%, while India’s BSE Sensex surged 2.5%. Hong Kong’s retail sales tumbled 14% year-over-year in December, while the Reserve Bank of Australia maintained its cash rate at 0.1%.

Broker Recommendation

Goldman Sachs upgraded Dell Technologies Inc DELL from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $68 to $96.

Dell shares rose 2.8% to $76.00 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• Vertex Pharmaceuticals VRTX reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.
• NXP Semiconductors NV NXPI reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter and issued strong sales forecast for the current quarter.
• Li Auto Inc LI reported a 355.8% year-over-year surge in vehicle deliveries for January.
• Cirrus Logic, Inc. CRUS posted better-than-expected earnings and sales for its third quarter. The company also said it sees Q4 sales of $280 million to $320 million.

Check out other breaking news here