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

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade ahead of the release of jobless claims data. The Dow Jones surged more than 280 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from AT&T Inc. T, Abbott Laboratories ABT, Intel Corporation INTC and Twitter, Inc. TWTR.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect jobless claims declining to 350,000 for the July 17 week from 360,000 in the prior week. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for June is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on existing home sales and the index of leading economic indicators will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for July is scheduled for release at 11:00 a.m.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 87 points to 34,776.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 8.75 points to 4,359.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 27.50 points to 14,855.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 34,226,820 with around 609,860 deaths. India reported a total of at least 31,257,720 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 19,473,950 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $72.61 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.7% to trade at $72.61 a barrel. US crude oil inventories climbed 2.108 million barrels in the July 16th week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbed 0.7%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1% while German DAX 30 gained 0.8%. The manufacturing climate indicator in France climbed to 110 in July from a revised reading of 108 in the prior month .

Asian markets traded higher today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.83%, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.34%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.06% and India’s BSE Sensex climbed 1.1%.

Broker Recommendation

Keybanc maintained Microsoft Corporation MSFT with an Overweight and raised the price target from $305 to $330.

Microsoft shares rose 0.4% to $282.39 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• CSX Corporation CSX reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter on Wednesday.
• Tesla Inc TSLA signed a deal to secure nickel supplies from BHP, the world’s largest miner, as it looks to shore up supplies of a key ingredient used to build electric vehicle batteries..
• Texas Instruments Incorporated TXN reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter. The company said it projects Q3 earnings of $1.87 to $2.13 per share on revenye of $4.4 billion to $4.76 billion.
• Whirlpool Corporation WHR reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter.

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