A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up; Dow Futures Jump Over 200 Points

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on import and export prices for September will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for October is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari is set to speak in New York at 8:00 a.m. ET, while Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren will speak in Madison, Wisconsin at 1:15 p.m. ET. Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan is set to speak in San Francisco, CA at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 249 points to 26,733 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 28.15 points to 2,969.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 88.75 points to 7,849.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.6% to trade at $60.03 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.7% to trade at $54.46 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 higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.8%, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 1.4% and German DAX 30 index gaining 2%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.4%, while French CAC 40 Index rose 1.2%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.15%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 2.34%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.88% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.65%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Deckers Outdoor Corporation DECK from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $166 to $170.

Deckers Outdoor shares fell 0.2% to close at $143.73 on Thursday.

Breaking News

• Chanticleer Holdings BURG reported a merger with Sonnet BioTherapeutics.
• ExOne Co XONE issued weak sales guidance. The company said it expects Q3 sales of $10 million to $11 million, versus prior guidance of 'modest' growth from Q2 sales of $15.3 million. ExOne projects FY19 sales growth to be lower than its previous forecast.
• Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. XIN reported listing of property management business on Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
• VOXX International Corp VOXX reported a Q2 loss of $0.24 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.85 per share. Its net sales slipped to $90.2 million from $108.9 million.