A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Earnings; Crude Oil Edges Lower

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after closing mixed in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Deere & Company DE, Foot Locker, Inc. FL and Buckle Inc BKE. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 134 points to 34,684.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 17 points to 4,384.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 31.75 points to 14,896.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 37,294,290 with around 625,160 deaths. India reported a total of at least 32,358,820 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 20,494,210 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.5% to trade at $66.13 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.4% to trade at $63.45 a barrel. US natural-gas supplies rose 46 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.3%. The French CAC 40 Index declined 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% while German DAX 30 dropped 0.5%. German producer prices jumped 10.4% year-over-year in July following an 8.5% increase in the previous month. Retail sales volumes in the UK declined 2.5% in July, while the GfK consumer confidence index declined to -8 in August.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.98%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 1.84%, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.1% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.5%. Japanese consumer prices fell 0.3% from a year earlier in July, while food prices declined 0.6% year-over-year in July. The People's Bank of China held its benchmark loan prime rates.

Broker Recommendation

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FibroGen shares rose 10.6% to $12.69 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter and issued strong forecast for the current quarter.
• World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc WWE plans to launch non-fungible tokens dedicated to its superstar wrestler John Cena.
• Ross Stores, Inc. ROST reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter. The company said its sees Q3 earnings of $0.61 to $0.69 per share.
• Second-largest United States mortgage lender UWM Holdings Corp's UWMC United Wholesale Mortgage plans to start accepting cryptocurrency payments this year, starting with Bitcoin.

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