Yahoo Finance Top 5 Things to Know in The Market on Thursday
Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Thursday, February 14:
1. Trump Considers 60-Day Extension for China Tariff Deadline
U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering a 60-day extension of a March 1 deadline, when U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are scheduled to increase to 25% from 10%.
Ongoing trade talks between the U.S. and China continued in Beijing Thursday, as a trade delegation led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer sat down with Chinese counterparts, led by Vice Premier Liu He.
The talks, scheduled to run through Friday, follow three days of deputy-level meetings to work out technical details, including a mechanism for enforcing any trade agreement.
2. U.S. Futures Point to Higher Open
U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open, as progress in the latest round of U.S.-China trade talks boosted sentiment.
At 5:30AM ET (10:30 GMT), the blue-chip Dow futures were up 76 points, or about 0.3%, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 6 points, or around 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 23 points, or roughly 0.3%.
Elsewhere, European stocks were higher across the board, as strong results from Nestle (SIX:NESN), AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) and Airbus (PA:AIR) helped ease concerns over slowing corporate profits.
Among national indices, Germany's DAX was a tad higher as investors breathed a sigh of relief that the euro zone's biggest economy escaped recession towards the end of last year.
In London, the FTSE 100 inched up ahead of another parliamentary vote on the next steps in the Brexit process, due to take place later in the session.
Earlier, stocks in China closed mixed despite the country's trade data for January coming in stronger-than-expected.
3. Coca-Cola, NVIDIA Highlight Another Busy Day of Earnings
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) are among some of the last notable names slated to report quarterly results, as the fourth-quarter earnings season winds down.
The beverage giant is expected to post earnings of $0.43 per share on revenue of $7.06 billion, according to analysts polled by Investing.com, when it reports before the opening bell.
Meanwhile, NVIDIA, which releases its results after the close, is forecast to report EPS of $0.71 and revenue of $2.3 billion.
Other notable companies reporting results today include Canada Goose (NYSE:GOOS), Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC), Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), CBS (NYSE:CBS), Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET), Cyberark (NASDAQ:CYBR), Six Flags (NYSE:SIX), CME Group (NASDAQ:CME), Avon Products (NYSE:AVP), Bloomin Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN), Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK), and Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC).
Read more: Nvidia Warned Us Earnings Are Bad; Watch For Signs Of Demand Recovery: Haris Anwar
4. U.S. Retail Sales
On the data front, the Commerce Department will publish a report on retail sales for December at 8:30AM ET (13:30 GMT), which investors will be eyeing for further signs on the strength of the American consumer.
The consensus forecast is that the report will show retail sales rose 0.1%. Excluding the automobile sector, sales are expected to post a flat reading.
Today's calendar will also bring investors the January report on producer prices, weekly jobless claims figures as well as the latest update on business inventories.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was a shade higher at 97.04, its best level since Dec. 17.
In the bond market, U.S. Treasury prices edged higher, pushing yields lower across the curve, with the benchmark 10-year yield falling to 2.69%.
5. Brent Oil Hits 2019 High
In commodities, crude oil prices rose to their highest levels of the year amid signs of rising demand from China.
China's crude oil imports in January rose 4.8% from a year earlier to an average of 10.03 million barrels per day (bpd), the third straight month that imports have exceeded the 10 million bpd mark.
International Brent crude oil futures were at $64.31 per barrel, up 71 cents, or 1.1%. they earlier rose to their strongest level since Nov. 20 at $64.81.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $54.28 per barrel, up 38 cents, or 0.7%, from their last settlement.
-- Reuters contributed to this report
Related Articles
France, Germany propose shake-up of EU competition rules
Germany, France agree on joint manifesto for industrial policy in Europe
