Wall Street to see a strong opening

FXStreet (Mumbai) - The stock markets in the US are likely to open higher, after a lackluster performance in the previous session that was widely attributed to a sharp fall in oil price.

At the time of writing, the DJIA futures traded 0.61% higher at 17,673.50 levels, while the S&P futures traded 0.72% higher at 2044.65 levels. Meanwhile, NASDAQ and Russell futures were up 0.53% and 0.65% at 4226.20 and 1194.30 levels respectively. The VIX futures traded 3.41% lower at 19.13 levels.

Among stocks, O'Reilly Automotive reported better than expected fourth quarter results. FMC Corp. reported above consensus fourth quarter adjusted earnings, although revenues missed estimates. Twenty-first Century Fox reported above-consensus earnings and revenues for its second quarter.

On the data front, the US trade balance in December rose to largest since 2012. The trade deficit jumped 17.1% to USD 46.6 billion, the largest since November 2012. It has been the biggest percentage increase since July 2009. Meanwhile, labor department data showed the initial jobless claims in the week ended Jan. 31 rose by 11K to 278K, missing the expected print of 290K, and up from the last week’s upwardly revised 267K.

The broader gains may be capped by a sharp rise in Trade deficit and due to developments concerning Greek debt.