U.S. stock futures are higher in pre-market trading for Friday, January 26. The Nasdaq Futures are trading at 6,964.75 for up with +0.48% percent or +33.25 point.The S&P 500 Futures are trading at 2,848.50 for up with +0.26% percent or +7.25 point. The Dow Futures are trading at 26,428.00 for up with +0.20% percent or +52.00 point.
In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 are trading at 23,631.88 with a loss of -0.16% percent or -37.61 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng are trading at 33,154.12 for up with +1.53% percent or +499.67 point. China’s Shanghai Composite are trading at 3,558.13 for up with +0.28% percent or +9.82 point. India’s BSE Sensex are trading at 36,050.44 with a loss of -0.31% percent or -111.20 point at 12:15 PM.The FTSE 100 are trading at 7,659.90 for up with +0.58% percent or +44.06 point. Germany’s DAX are trading at 13,315.62 for up with +0.13% percent or +17.26 point. France’s CAC 40 are trading at 5,532.55 for up with +0.94% percent or +51.35 point. The Stoxx Europe 600 are trading at400.57 for up with +0.50% percent or +1.98 point.
Friday’s Factors and Events
Discover Financial Services DFS will release fourth-quarter 2017 results on Jan 24, after market close.
A major credit card issuer in the United States, Discover Financial has been witnessing continuous growth in card sales over the past many years, adding to its revenue base. The same trend is expected to continue in the fourth quarter as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for card sales is pegged at $34 billion, reflecting year-over-year growth of 4.6%.
The company’s Payments Service segment has been underperforming over the past few years. Nevertheless, Discover Financial has been taking measures to turn this segment profitable, as evident from its decent performance in the last quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the segment’s total transaction volume stands at $50.4 billion, reflecting year-over-year growth of 9.4%.
Thursday’s Activity
U.S. market were mixed on Thursday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 26,392.79 for up with +0.54% percent or +140.67 point. The S&P 500 closed at 2,839.25 for up with +0.06% percent or +1.71 point. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,411.16 with a loss of -0.05% percent or -3.89 point.
Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,601.67 for up with +0.13% percent or +2.06 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 976.56 for up with +0.37% percent or +3.60 point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 1,987.35 with a loss of -0.02% percent or -0.39 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,258.04 for up with +0.12% percent or +1.50 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 1,676.33 for up with +0.05% percent or +0.80 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 1,571.34 for up with +0.04% percent or +0.65 point; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closed at 26,392.79 for up with +0.54% percent or +140.67 point.