A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Tumble Ahead Of Economic Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade.

The flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index for March is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET. Data on existing home sales for February and wholesale inventories for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The U.S. Treasury budget report for February will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic is set to speak in San Francisco, CA at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 117 points to 25,894.00, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 1 point to 2,826.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 30.5 points to 7,504.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.1 percent to trade at $67.15 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.9 percent to trade at $59.45 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is schedule for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.6 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.5 percent and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.4 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 1 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.9 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.09 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.14 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.09 percent and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.58 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Citigroup downgraded Biogen Inc BIIB from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $470 to $230.

Biogen shares fell 0.8 percent to $225.01 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Hibbett Sports, Inc. HIBB reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter and issued strong FY20 earnings outlook.
• Tiffany & Co. TIF reported downbeat sales for its fourth quarter.
• JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. JKS reported weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.
• Nike Inc NKE reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter. However, North America sales increased 7 percent to $3.81 billion, missing analysts’ estimates of $3.87 billion.