A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Drop Ahead Of Earnings, Jobless Claims Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, as investors are awaiting earnings from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR BABA, Estee Lauder Companies Inc EL, BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. BJ and Ross Stores, Inc. ROST. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The index of leading economic indicators for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 5,529,930 with around 173,180 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 3,456,650 cases, while India reported a total of at least 2,836,920 confirmed cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 103 points to 27,529 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 14.45 point to 3,358.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 38.5 points to 11,293.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.8% to trade at $45.01 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.9% to trade at $42.55 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1.2%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 1.4%, while French CAC 40 Index declined 1.6% and German DAX 30 fell 1.3%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.54% China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.30% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.9%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. SRPT from Outperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $185 to $167.

Sarepta Therapeutics shares fell 1.1% to $146.98 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• NVIDIA Corporation NVDA reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter. The company also said it expects Q3 revenues of $4.40 billion, plus or minus 2%.
• General Electric Company GE announced Wednesday it had signed two agreements with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity worth $1.2 billion to bolster and maintain the middle-eastern country’s electric infrastructure..
• Intel Corporation INTC said it was entering into accelerated share repurchase agreements to buy a total of $10 billion of the company’s common stock.
• Synopsys SNPS reported better-than-expected Q3 results.