A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street; Crude Oil Edges Higher

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones added around 300 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Aphria Inc APHA.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET. The U.S. Treasury statement for March is scheduled for release at 2:00 p.m. ET. Analysts expect Treasury's monthly deficit of $658.0 billion for March versus a deficit of $310.9 billion in February.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 76 points to 33,606.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 6 points at 4,113.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 10.50 points to 13,819.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 31,197,870 with around 562,060 deaths. India reported a total of at least 13,527,710 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 13,482,020 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $63.35 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $59.60 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs came in unchanged at 337 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today . The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.7% and STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.3%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.1%, German DAX 30 gained 0.1% while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.5%. Eurozone's retail trade increased 3.0% in February following a 5.2% decline in January.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.77%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.09% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.86%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 3.7%. Producer prices in Japan increased 1% year-on-year in March versus a revised 0.6% decline a month earlier.

Broker Recommendation

Keybanc upgraded Westlake Chemical Corporation WLK from Sector Weight to Overweight and announced a $124 price target.

Westlake Chemical shares rose 0.8% to $90.16 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR BABA was fined a record $2.8 billion by China after a monopoly probe found that the company had abused its dominant market position..
• Reuters reported that Ingersoll Rand Inc. IR is nearing a $1.7 billion deal to sell Golf Cart business to Platinum Equity.
• Microsoft Corporation MSFT is in talks to buy Nuance Communications Inc. NUAN, Bloomberg reported.
• DiaSorin S.p.A. announced plans to acquire Luminex Corporation LMNX for a price of $37.00 per share in an all-cash deal.

Check out other breaking news here