Benzinga | Feb 8, 2021 06:04AM EST

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up; Crude Oil Rises 1%

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after recording sharp gains in the previous week. The US economy added 49,000 jobs in January versus market expectations for a 50,000 rise. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) and Aecom (NYSE:ACM) and Global Payments Inc (NYSE:GPN).

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET. The Investor Movement Index for January is scheduled for release at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 107 points to 31,149.00 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures traded rose 10.75 points to 3,891.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 48.75 points to 13,646.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 27,007,390 with around 463,470 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,838,190 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 9,524,640 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.1% to trade at $59.99 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.1% to trade at $57.46 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 4 to 299 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.4%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.6%, German DAX 30 gained 0.2% while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.7%. Spain's industrial production declined 0.6% year-over-year in December versus a revised 3.7% drop in the previous month, while German industrial production stalled in December.

Asian markets traded higher today. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 2.12%, China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.03% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.11%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6%, while India's BSE Sensex rose 1.2%. Japan's total bank lending increased 6.1% in January, while current account surplus widened to JPY 1,166 billion during December. China's foreign exchange reserves shrank to $3.211 trillion in January.

Broker Recommendation

SVB Leerink maintained Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ZBH) with a Outperform and raised the price target from $185 to $190.

Zimmer Biomet shares fell 0.5% to close at $159.89 on Friday.

Check out other major ratings here



Breaking News

* Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is no longer negotiating with Kia and its parent Hyundai Motor Company, the latter two have confirmed, Bloomberg reported.

* Ocugen Inc (NASDAQ:OCGN) announced the sale of 3 million common shares at $7.65 per share in a registered direct offering.

* SIFCO Industries Inc (NYSE:SIF) reported earnings of $0.51 per share for the first quarter, versus a year-ago net loss of $0.24 per share. Its net sales fell 4.3% to $25.1 million.

* Renesas Electronics Corporation (OTC:RNECY) announced plans to acquire Dialog Semiconductor (OTC:DLGNF) in an all-cash offer of about 4.9 billion euros ($5.9 billion).

Check out other breaking news here