A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Tumble Ahead Of Jobless Claims

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade ahead of the release of jobless claims data. The Dow Jones closed higher by more than 100 points on Wednesday following the release of minutes from the FOMC meeting.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Jobless claims are expected to decline to 353,000 for the July 3 week from 364,000 in the previous week. Data on consumer credit for May will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 356 points to 34,212.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 41.25 points 4,308.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 147.25 points to 14,655.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 33,770,450 with around 606,210 deaths. India reported a total of at least 30,709,550 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 18,909,030 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.3% to trade at $72.48 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.5% to trade at $71.10 a barrel. Crude oil stockpiles dropped by 7.98 mb last week, the API 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, while the EIA’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index dipped 2.2% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 1.1%. The French CAC 40 Index declined 1.9%, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.4% while German DAX 30 tumbled 1.4%. German current account surplus increased to EUR 13.1 billion in May from EUR 7.1 billion in the year-ago month, while trade surplus widened to EUR 12.3 billion from EUR 7 billion.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dipped 2.9% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.9%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% and India’s BSE Sensex tumbled 1%. Japanese current account surplus surged to JPY 1,979.7 billion in May, compared to JPY 1,068.5 billion in the year-ago period.

Broker Recommendation

Telsey Advisory Group initiated coverage on Hibbett, Inc. HIBB with an Outperform rating and announced a price target of $110.

Hibbett shares rose 3.2% to close at $93.10 on Wednesday.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• WD-40 Company WDFC reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter on Wednesday.
• Tesla Inc TSLA has introduced and started accepting pre-orders for its locally built electric mid-size SUV Model Y’s standard variant in China for under RMB 300,000 ($46,000), thus qualifying it for state-led subsidies, shows the company’s website.
• Gan Ltd GAN issued preliminary results for its second quarter. The company said it expects Q2 revenue to be in a range of $34 million to $35 million. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in a range of $3 million to $7 million. GAN raised its full-year guidance to a range of $125 million to $135 million.
• SeaSpine Holdings Corporation SPNE reported the FDA 510(k) clearance of its 7D surgical percutaneous spine module for minimally invasive surgery.

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