A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Point To Higher Wall Street Open

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs for the first quarter and the international trade report for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 106 points to 24,928.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 5.25 points to 2,756.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 9 points to 7,188.25.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures rose 0.11 percent to trade at $75.46 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures dropped 0.38 percent to trade at $65.27 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.84 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.07 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.38 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.56 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.01 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.38 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.53 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.03 percent and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.79 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Atlantic Equities downgraded Kohl's Corporation (NYSE: KSS) from Neutral to Underweight.

Kohl's shares fell 0.71 percent to $74.40 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Signet Jewelers Ltd. (NYSE: SIG) reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.
• Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) reported a $1 billion convertible notes offering.
• NCI Building Systems Inc (NYSE: NCS) reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter. The company issued strong third-quarter sales guidance.
• ImmunoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN) disclosed a 12-million common stock offering.