A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower Following Monday's Rally

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade, following a surge in the equity markets on Monday. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Walmart Inc. WMT, Advance Auto Parts, Inc. AAP and The Home Depot, Inc. HD. Data on housing starts and permits for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Investors also await congressional testimony from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and deaths around the world. Total COVID-19 cases in the U.S. exceeded 1,508,950 with around 90,360 deaths. Russia reported a total of at least 299,940 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 255,360 cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 49 points to 24,458 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 8 points to 2,940. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 2.25 points to 9,323.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.3% to trade at $34.93 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.7% to trade at $32.35 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.6%, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.7% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.4%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.1%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.8%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.49%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.89%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.81% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.9%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Wells Fargo upgraded Mantech International Corp MANT from Equal-Weight to Overweight and lowered the price target from $87 to $83.

Mantech shares rose 0.2% to $71.45 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Moderna Inc MRNA announced Monday it is planning to raise more than $1.3 billion in a secondary public offering after reporting positive interim data from phase one of its clinical trials.
• Tesla Inc’s TSLA new car registrations dropped 64% to 4,633 units in April versus 12,709 units in March, reported Reuters.
• Baidu Inc BIDU reported upbeat results for its first quarter on Monday.
• Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc BLPH announced a common stock offering.