A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Slide Ahead Of Housing-Starts Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on housing starts for May will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 30 points to 17,614.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 4.75 points to 2,065.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 6.50 points to 4,409.75.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 2.16 percent to trade at $48.21 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also gained 1.54 percent to trade at $46.95 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.59 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 1.19 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.72 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 1.22 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.93 percent. Eurozone current account surplus increased to 36.2 billion euros ($40.75 billion) in April, from EUR26.3 billion in March.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.07 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.66 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.43 percent and India's BSE Sensex rose 0.38 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Cowen & Company upgraded Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (NASDAQ: SWHC) from Market Perform to Outperform, while lowering the price target from $29.00 to $28.00.

Smith & Wesson shares rose 11.77 percent to $24.31 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

• Sky Solar Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: SKYS) reported a loss of $823 thousand or a low of $0.002 per share in the first quarter compared to a net income of $2.6 million or $0.01 per share in the year-ago quarter. Street estimated a loss of $0.06 a share. To read the full news, click here.
• Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) revealed that it signed a definitive deal to sell its Chemetall Surface Treatment business to BASF in a cash transaction worth at about $3.2 billion. To read the full news, click here.
• Revlon Inc (NYSE: REV) agreed to acquire Elizabeth Arden, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEN) for $14.00 per share in cash, for an enterprise value of around $870 million.
• Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) reported stronger-than-expected revenue for its fourth quarter, but missed analysts' earnings estimates.