A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Citigroup, JPMorgan Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, Citigroup Inc. C, Wells Fargo & Co WFC and Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL. The Consumer Price Index for December will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 29 points to 28,842 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 5.7 points to 3,284.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 22.25 points to 9,066.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $64.61 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $58.34 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.4%, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.1% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.1%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.1%, while French CAC 40 Index dropped 0.2%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.73%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.24%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.28% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.22%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at First Analysis downgraded Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. CHKP from Outperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $133 to $119.

Check Point shares rose 0.7% to close at $113.44 on Monday.

Breaking News

• IHS Markit Ltd INFO reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.
• GameStop Corp. GME reported a 24.7% year-over-year drop in its comparable sales for the nine-week holiday period. Its holiday sales fell 27.5% year-over-year to $1.83 billion. The company said it expects preliminary FY19 comparable sales down 19%-21%.
• Avinger Inc AVGR reported a common stock offering.
• PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals Inc PHAS announced the acquisition of novel aldosterone synthase inhibitors.