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

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Nasdaq surged over 80 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Dollar General Corp. DG, Dollar Tree, Inc. DLTR, Costco Wholesale Corporation COST, Best Buy Co Inc BBY, HP Inc HPQ and Dell Technologies Inc DELL.

Data on durable goods orders, Gross Domestic Product and initial jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The pending home sales index for April is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for May will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 29 points to 34,251.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 10.25 points at 4,182.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 64.50 points to 13,635.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 33,190,560 with around 591,950 deaths. India reported a total of at least 27,369,090 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 16,274,690 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $68.26 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $65.73 a barrel. US crude-oil inventories declined 1.7 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. 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 mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.4%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% while German DAX 30 declined 0.3%. Italy’s consumer confidence index surged to 110.6 in May from 102.3 in the prior month, while manufacturing confidence index gained to 110.2 from 106. German GfK Consumer Climate Indicator rose to -7 for June from a revised reading of -8.6 in May.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.33%, while China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.43%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.18%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% and India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.3%. Industrial profits earned by China's firms jumped 106.1% year-over-year to CNY 2.59 trillion in January-April. Business investment in Australia rose 6.3% quarter-on-quarter for the three months to March.

Broker Recommendation

RBC Capital upgraded Ford Motor Company F from Sector Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $13 to $17.

Ford shares rose 1.7% to $14.13 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• American Eagle Outfitters Inc AEO reported upbeat results for its first quarter on Wednesday.
• Ford Motor Co F announced on Wednesday it plans to boost spending on electric vehicle development to $30 billion by 2025 under a new turnaround plan and expects 40% car sales by 2030 to be EVs.
• NVIDIA Corporation NVDA reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and issued strong revenue forecast for the current quarter.
• AliveCor Inc. has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Apple Inc. AAPL, accusing the tech giant of monopolizing the market for heart-rate technology for the Apple Watch.

Check out other breaking news here