Benzinga | Jan 19, 2021 06:12AM EST

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after recording losses in the previous session. President-elect Joe Biden announced a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package Thursday evening. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX).

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 173 points to 30,893.00 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures traded gained 26.75 points to 3,789.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 126.25 points to 12,928.50.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 24,078,770 with around 399,000 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,581,820 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 8,511,770 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.2% to trade at $55.40 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $52.56 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 12 to 287 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.1%, German DAX 30 gained 0.3% while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%. Eurozone construction output declined 1.3% year-over-year in November, while ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment increased by 3.9 points to 58.3 in January. The Eurozone current account surplus also increased to EUR 26.8 billion in November versus EUR 23.5 billion in the year-ago month. UK's labor productivity increased 5.6% on quarter during the third quarter, while German consumer dropped 0.3% year-over-year in December.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.39%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.83%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 2.7% and India's BSE Sensex rose 1.7%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2%. Australia's new home sales rose 26.2% in December 2020, following a 15.2% increase a month ago.

Broker Recommendation

BMO Capital upgraded Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) from Market Perform to Outperform and raises the price target from $270 to $325.

Facebook shares rose 2.4% to $257.27 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here



Breaking News

* Total SE (NYSE:TOT) announced plans to acquire a 20% interest in world's biggest solar developer, Adani Green Energy Limited, from Adani Group.

* Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) Chairman Omar Ishrak is working towards gathering funds for a health technology special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Bloomberg reported Monday.

* Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) initiated deliveries of Model Y vehicles in China on Monday. The initial Shanghai deliveries will be followed by other cities, according to Tesla, reported Xinhua -- a Chinese government news agency.

* SoftBank Group Corp (OTC:SFTBY)-backed ride-hailing firm Grab is looking to go public in the United States in 2021, Reuters reported Monday.

Check out other breaking news here