A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain Ahead Of Morgan Stanley Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Morgan Stanley MS. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week, retail sales for December, import prices for December and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for January Data on will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on business inventories for November and the housing market index for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman is set to speak at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 77 points to 29,106 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 10.45 points to 3,304.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 37.75 points to 9,097.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $64.37 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.3% to trade at $58.00 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.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.1%, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.1% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.3%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.4%, while French CAC 40 Index dropped 0.1%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.07%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.38%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.52% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.14%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded Tesla Inc TSLA to Underweight from Equal Weight and raised the price target to $380 from $250.

Tesla shares fell 2.2% to $507.33 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Alcoa Corp AA reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter results. The company said it expects lower quarterly results in the bauxite segment due to lower pricing and seasonally lower volumes.
• Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc. CSOD disclosed that it has acquired Clustree for $18.5 million in cash.
• XPO Logistics Inc XPO reported the exploration of strategic alternatives for one or more business units, including a possible sale or spinoff.
• Global Water Resources Inc GWRS announced a public offering of common stock with no disclosed size.