A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mostly Lower Following Last Week's Plunge

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly lower in early pre-market trade, following a sharp decline in the previous week led by technology stocks. US stock markets were closed Monday for a public holiday. Investors are awaiting earnings from Lululemon Athletica Inc LULU, Casey's General Stores Inc CASY, Calavo Growers, Inc.CVGW and ABM Industries, Inc. ABM. Data on consumer credit for July will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2 points to 28,076 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 17.25 points to 3,400.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 231.50 points to 11,317.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 6,301,320 with around 189,210 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 4,147,790 cases, while India reported a total of at least 4,280,420 confirmed cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.7% to trade at $41.30 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 3.8% to trade at $38.27 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 1 to 181 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.2% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1%. The French CAC 40 Index slipped 1.2%, while German DAX 30 fell 0.8% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3%. German exports continued to rebound for the third straight month, increasing 4.7% in July from June. The Eurozone economy contracted by 11.8% on quarter during the three months ended June, lesser than initial estimates for a 12.1% decline.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.14% China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.72% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.3%. Japanese economy shrank higher than initially expected during the April-June quarter, with the GDP contracting 7.9% versus the prior quarter, down from the preliminary estimate of 7.8% contraction.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Raymond James upgraded W.W. Grainger, Inc. GWW from Market Perform to Outperform.

Grainger shares fell 0.6% to close at $358.08 on Friday.

Breaking News

• Grifols SA – ADR GRFS announced plans to acquire Alkahest Inc, for $146 million on a debt-free basis.
• Meggitt PLC MEGGY swung to pretax loss of 368.4 million pounds ($485.9 million) during the first half of the year, and announced plans to suspend its interim dividend.
• The Boeing Co BA is under scrutiny from the United States Federal Aviation Administration due to production problems at its 787 Dreamliner factory, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday
• Mylan N.V. MYL agreed to acquire Aspen's Thrombosis business in Europe for €641.9 million.