A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up; UK Approves AstraZeneca's Covid-19 Vaccine

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade as Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN Covid-19 antibody cocktail witnessed positive results in early-stage trials for hospitalized patients and AstraZeneca plc's AZN vaccine received U.K. approval for emergency use.

Data on U.S. international trade in goods and wholesale inventories for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Chicago PMI for December is scheduled for release at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the pending home sales index for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 93 points to 30,331.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 14 points to 3,734.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 45 points to 12,886.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 19,515,430 with around 338,630 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,244,850 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 7,563,550 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $51.51 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $48.30 a barrel. The API reported that stocks of crude oil in the US fell 4.8 million barrels during the week ended December 25. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.1%, while German DAX 30 slipped 0.1% and London's FTSE 100 gained 0.2%. UK’s nationwide home price index rose 7.3% year-over-year and 0.8% month-over-month. Spanish CPI declined 0.5% year-over-year in December.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.45%, China’s Shanghai Composite surged 1.05%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surged 2.18% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.3%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3%.

Breaking News

• China's Sinopharm Group SHTDY reported that its Covid-19 vaccine candidate BBIBP-CorV — developed in partnership with Beijing Biological Products Institute Co. Ltd — showed 79.34% efficacy, Reuters reported.
• Moderna Inc MRNA confirmed talks with the government of South Korea to supply the nation with 40 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine. The company also said that its vaccine will be made available to its workers, contractors, and board members under the FDA emergency use authorization.
• Tesla Inc TSLA supplier LG Energy Solution, which spun-off from LG Chem earlier this month, has signed a $9.8 billion electric vehicle battery investment agreement with Indonesia, Reuters reported.
• China Finance Online Co. JRJC reported a Q3 loss of $0.66 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $0.91 per share. Its net revenue climbed to $10.7 million from $8.1 million.