A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Empire State Index

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Empire State manufacturing index for July is schedule for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams is set to speak in New York at 8:50 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 37 points to 27,346, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 4.35 points to 3,019.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 7.25 points to 7,967.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $66.99 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $60.34 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

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

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.29%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.41%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan upgraded Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT) from Neutral to Overweight and lowered the price target from $44 to $43.

Brinker shares rose 1.4 percent to $39.25 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Galapagos NV (NASDAQ: GLPG) shares climbed over 15% in pre-market trading following announcement of $1.1 billion equity investment from Gilead Sciences, Inc.
• ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) agreed to sell 12.3MW of China rooftop DG projects. However, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) disclosed that it will not extend its offer to acquire CIRCOR International, Inc. (NYSE: CIR) for $48 per share beyond July 19th.
• OrganiGram Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: OGI) reported a Q3 loss of $0.07 per share, versus earnings of $0.03 per share in the year-ago period. Its sales rose to $24.75 million from $3.435 million.