A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Plummet; Crude Oil Down Over 20%

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. South Korea confirmed 96 new coronavirus cases, while mainland China reported 40 new confirmed cases. Italy reported 133 deaths on Sunday, while there were 49 new deaths in Iran
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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 1,255 points to 24,534 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 145.1 points to 2,819.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 410 points to 8,093.25.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 21.3% to trade at $35.65 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 22.2% to trade at $32.11 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 6.6%, STOXX Europe 600 Index slipping 6.4% and German DAX 30 index dropping 6.5%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 5.3%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 7%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 5.07%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 4.23%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 3.01% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 5.17%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Cowen & Co. upgraded PACCAR Inc PCAR from Underperform to Market Perform and lowered the price target from $66 to $65.

PACCAR shares fell 1.2% to close at $64.56 on Friday.

Breaking News

• Thor Industries, Inc. THO reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.
• Amazon.com Inc. AMZN agreed to sell the technology behind its grab-and-go stores to other retailers, the e-commerce giant told Reuters on Monday.
• Crude oil futures on Sunday dropped by the most percentage points since the gulf war of 1991, as Saudi Arabia and Russia engaged in a price war. Saudi Arabia announced that it is cutting the price for April crude oil to all destinations by $6 to $8, as reported by Reuters, causing the oil prices to crash to their worst since early 2016.
• Diamondback Energy, Inc. FANG announced plans to cutt back operations amid oil price weakness.