A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain As Investors Monitor Stimulus Developments

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade ahead of today’s deadline for additional fiscal stimulus. Investors are awaiting earnings from Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT, Netflix Inc NFLX, and Procter & Gamble Co PG. Wall Street closed lower in the prior session following stalled stimulus talks.

Data on housing starts and permits for September will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles is set to speak at 10:50 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak at 3:00 p.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will speak at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 134 points to 28,234 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 18.80 points to 3,441.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 63 points to 11,713.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 8,214,750 with around 220,130 deaths. India reported a total of at least 7,597,060 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 5,250,720 cases.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures rose 0.1% to trade at $42.64 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.2% to trade at $40.76 a barrel. The API’s report on crude stocks in the US will be released later in the day.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today after recording losses in the previous session. The Spanish Ibex Index climbed 1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.3%, while German DAX 30 declined 0.2% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2%. Eurozone current Account data for August showed a surplus of €19.9 billion. German Producer Price Index rose 0.4% month-over-month in September.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.44%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.47%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.03% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.3%. The People’s Bank of China kept their loan prime rate unchanged at 3.85% on Monday.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Piper Sandler upgraded Workday Inc WDAY from Neutral to Overweight and raised the price target from $248 to $275.

Workday shares rose 1.9% to $231.84 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• IBM IBM reported in-line earnings for its third quarter, with sales exceeding views.
• UBS Group AG UBS reported a 99% surge in net income for the third quarter.
• Intel Corporation INTC agreed to sell its memory-chip unit to South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc for $9 billion.
• PPG Industries, Inc. PPG posted upbeat earnings and sales for its third quarter on Monday.