A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mixed Ahead Of Earnings, Powell Testimony

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mixed in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones dropped more than 100 points in the previous session. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will testify before Congress at 12:00 p.m. ET. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Bank of America Corp BAC, Citigroup Inc C and Wells Fargo & Co WFC.

The Producer Price Index for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Producer prices have been accelerating, including a 0.8% headline increase in May. Analysts, however, expect prices rising 0.5% for June. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari will speak at 1:30 p.m. ET, while the Federal Open Market Committee will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22 points to 34,754.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 0.75 points to 4,362.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 46 points to 14,911.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 33,914,880 with around 607,770 deaths. India reported a total of at least 30,907,280 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 19,151,990 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $76.02 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $74.74 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories dropped 4.1 million barrels for the week ended July 8, the API said. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the US will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.3%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4% while German DAX 30 slipped 0.2%. Industrial production in the Eurozone dropped 1% in May, recording the first decline in three months. Spain's consumer prices increased 2.7% annually in June. UK’s producer prices rose 4.3% year-over-year in June, while annual inflation rate in the UK rose to 2.5% in June from 2.1% in May.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.38%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.67% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.07%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% and India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.2%. China's trade surplus widened to $51.53 billion in June from $44.8 billion in the year-ago month. Industrial production in Japan fell 6.5% in May following a final 2.9% rise in the earlier month. Foreign direct investment into China jumped 28.7% year-over-year to CNY 607.84 billion in the first half of the year. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment in Australia increased to 108.8 in July. Wholesale prices in India surged 12.07% year-over-year in June.

Broker Recommendation

JP Morgan upgraded Nokia Corporation NOK from Neutral to Overweight and announced a $7.8 price target..

Nokia shares rose 0.2% to $5.89 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• L Brands Inc LB reported sales of $2.351 billion for the nine weeks ended July 3, 2021, up from $1.369 billion in the year-ago period. The company also boosted its Q2 guidance from $0.80-$1.00 to $1.20-$1.30. L Brands reported commencement of an underwritten public secondary offering of 20,041,646 shares of its common stock and also announced repurchase of its common stock.
• Apple Inc AAPL is aiming to ship 90 million next-generation iPhones in 2021, a 20% jump from a year ago as it anticipates additional demand after the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, Bloomberg reported.
• Netflix Inc NFLX has ordered three seasons of a new children’s TV show named CoComelon Lane, a popular channel on Alphabet-owned video streaming platform YouTube, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday..
• IMARA Inc. IMRA reported a $50 million common stock offering.

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