US Stock Futures Mostly Flat; All Eyes On Jobs Report

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade ahead of the much-awaited jobs report for August. U.S. stocks closed mostly higher, with the Dow Jones adding around 146 points on Thursday after all the three major indices notched their weakest August performance since 2015.

U.S. jobs cut report for August is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect a rise of 293,000 jobs for August, compared with a 528,000 increase in July. Average hourly earnings, which increased rose 0.5% on the month in July, are expected to rise 0.4% in August. The country’s unemployment rate might remain unchanged at 3.5% during August.

Data on factory orders for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m.

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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1 point to 31,662.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 0.25 points to 3,969.00. Futures for the Nasdaq index fell 6.25 points to 12,286.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 2.4% to trade at $94.54 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 2.4% to trade at $88.68 a barrel.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 96,465,120 with around 1,072,120 deaths. India reported a total of at least 44,442,500 confirmed cases, while France confirmed over 34,547,840 cases.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.7%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.7% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.3%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.6%, while German DAX climbed 1.3%.

Producer prices in the Eurozone surged 4% month-over-month in July, recording the biggest increase in four months. The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain climbed by 40,428 month-over-month to 2.92 million in August. Germany’s trade surplus narrowed to €4.9 billion in July from €17.8 billion in the year-ago period.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.04%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.05%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.74%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3%, while India’s S&P BSE SENSEX rose 0.1%.

Broker Recommendation

JP Morgan downgraded Dow Inc. DOW from Overweight to Neutral.

Dow shares fell 0.6% to $49.65 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Vladimir Putin-led Russia is likely to resume gas supplies via its Nord Stream pipeline to Europe with grid data indicating flows will resume at 20% of capacity on Saturday as planned, reported Bloomberg.
• Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and boosted its annual projections.
• Meta Platforms Inc's META instant messaging app WhatsApp banned 2.39 million Indian accounts in July, the highest so far this year.
• Broadcom Inc. AVGO reported upbeat results for its third quarter and issued strong sales forecast for the current quarter.

Check out other breaking news here