A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of Factory Orders Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on factory orders for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari will speak in Washington, D.C. at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 25 points to 20,955.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 5.75 points to 2,375.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index slipped 9.75 points to 5,363.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures dropped 0.64 percent to trade at $55.54 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.68 percent to trade at $52.97 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.17 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.38 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.41 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.35 percent, while French CAC 40 Index dropped 0.41 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.46 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.18 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.48 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.75 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Jefferies upgraded Dow Chemical Co DOW from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $65.00 to $75.00.

Dow Chemical shares fell 0.14 percent to close at $63.26 on Friday.

Breaking news

• Deutsche Bank AG (USA) DB announced plans to raise 8 billion euro by launching rights issue of new shares and disclosed a major reorganization of its business structure.



• Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated VRTX announced plans to acquire CTP-656 from Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc CNCE for $160 million in cash and potential $90 million in milestones.



• JAKKS Pacific, Inc. JAKK reported renewal of licensing agreement with Disney for several Chinese properties.



• FairPoint Communications Inc FRP posted Q4 earnings of $0.59 per share on revenue of $203.9 million.