A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mostly Lower Ahead Of Earnings, Economic Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones tumbled over 600 points in the previous session to record its worst day since October 28. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Mastercard Inc MA, Visa Inc V and American Airlines Group Inc AAL and Mcdonald's Corp MCD.

Data on Gross Domestic Product for the fourth quarter, international trade in goods, initial jobless claims and wholesale inventories will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on new home sales and the index of leading economic indicators for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for January will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26 points to 30,163.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded dropped 14.75 points to 3,729.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dipped 142 points to 12,963.50.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 25,598,060 with around 429,150 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,701,190 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 8,996,870 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.9% to trade at $55.06 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1% to trade at $52.32 a barrel. US crude oil inventories declined by 9.9 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said. 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. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 2%. The French CAC 40 Index dropped 1.2%, German DAX 30 dropped 2% while London's FTSE 100 fell 1.7%. Spain's unemployment rate declined to 16.13% in the fourth quarter from 16.26% in the prior period. Car production in UK tumbled 29.3% to 920,928 units in 2020.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.53%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.91% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dipped 2.55%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.9%, while India’s BSE Sensex dipped 1.1%. Japan’s retail sales fell 0.3% year-on-year in December. Australia's export prices climbed 5.5% in Q4, while import prices fell 1%.

Broker Recommendation

KeyBanc upgraded Twitter, Inc. TWTR from Sector Weight to Overweight and announced a $65 price target.

Twitter shares fell 0.6% to $47.88 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Apple Inc AAPL reported stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal first-quarter, with iPhone, wearables and Services all reporting record revenues.
• Facebook, Inc. FB reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter. The company said daily active users were up 11% year over year to 1.84 billion. Facebook also sees fiscal year 2021 total expenses at $68-$73 billion.
• Dow Inc. DOW reported better-than-expected Q4 results.
• Tesla Inc TSLA posted downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales exceeded estimates. The company’s deliveries were 180,667 vehicles in the quarter, representing a year-over-year increase of 61%.

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