A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Gain Ahead Of Durable-Goods Orders Report

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on durable goods orders for May and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index for May will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 68 points to 21,407.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 6.50 points to 2,441.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 24.25 points to 5,836.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures fell 0.15 percent to trade at $45.61 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.30 percent to trade at $43.14 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.82 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.80 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.78 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.68 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 1.05 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.10 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.79 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.87 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.49 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Pacific Crest upgraded Pandora Media Inc P from Underweight to Sector Weight.

Pandora shares rose 4.47 percent to $8.65 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT is not considering making a bid for Whole Foods Market, Inc. WFM, according to a source as reported by Reuters. Another source said Whole Foods had not received any offers other than the one made by Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN as of Friday.



• Collins Restaurants South Pty Ltd announced the acquisition of 28 KFC restaurants from Yum! Brands, Inc. YUM for A$110.2 million in cash.



• Triumph Bancorp Inc TBK reported that its subsidiary, TBK Bank, agreed to acquire 9 branch locations from Independent Bank Group Inc’s IBTX subsidiary Independent Bank.



• Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. MLM agreed to acquire Bluegrass Materials for $1.625 billion in cash.