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A Peek Into The Markets: U.S. Stock Futures Rise; Fed Decision In Focus

VNDA, CSCO, MSCI, AIT | June 15, 2016

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Producer Price Index for May and the Empire State manufacturing index for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for May will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET. The Federal Open Market Committee will announce policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the Fed Chair Janet Yellen will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 40 points to 17,612.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3 points to 2,069.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 7.50 points to 4,426.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures dropped 1.34 percent to trade at $49.16 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures also declined 1.07 percent to trade at $49.03 a barrel. The EIA's weekly report on petroleum inventories is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.80 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 1.06 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.93 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.83 percent, while French CAC 40 Index rose 1.20 percent. U.K. unemployment rate shrank to 5 percent in the three months to April, compared to 5.5 percent in the year-ago period. The eurozone exports increased 4.9 percent in April from March, while imports rose 2.6 percent. French consumer price index increased 0.4 percent in May, versus a 0.1 percent growth in April.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.38 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.39 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.58 percent and India's BSE Sensex gained 1.25 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $35.00 to $32.00.

Cisco shares fell 1.24 percent to $28.60 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VNDA) revealed that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted three years of marketing exclusivity for the changes in respect of the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA), which was recently approved by FDA. To read the full news, click here.
MSCI Inc (NYSE: MSCI)'s widely-awaited decision on whether or not to include China A-shares in its emerging markets benchmarks arrived after the close of U.S. markets Tuesday with the index provider again opting against elevating the stocks trading on mainland China to widely followed indexes such as the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. To read the full news, click here.
Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN) revealed Wednesday its intention to buy Energy Capital Partners' (ECP) 35% stake in the Atlas joint venture (JV) that the two companies formed in February to acquire ENGIE's 9,058 megawatt U.S. fossil portfolio. To read the full news, click here.
Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE: AIT) revealed Wednesday that it acquired Seals Unlimited, a distributor of sealing, fastener and hose products, located in Burlington, Ontario. The company did not disclose the terms of the sale. To read the full news, click here.