A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower; Jackson Hole Event In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq surged to record highs in the previous session. The Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium kicks off today. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Dollar General Corp. DG, Dollar Tree, Inc. DLTR, Burlington Stores, Inc. BURL and HP Inc HPQ and Dell Technologies Inc. DELL.

Data on initial jobless claims and Gross Domestic Product report for the second quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for August will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 17 points to 35,343.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 7 points to 4,486.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 41.50 points to 15,322.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 38,223,210 with around 632,270 deaths. India reported a total of at least 32,558,530 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 20,645,530 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures dropped 1% to trade at $70.60 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.1% to trade at $67.58 a barrel. US crude oil inventories dropped 2.979 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The EIA’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 lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.8% and STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.5%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.5%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4% while German DAX 30 declined 0.6%. Loans to households in the Eurozone climbed 4.2% in July after rising 4.0% in the prior month. The GfK Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany fell to -1.2 for September versus a revised reading of -0.4 a month ago. UK factories produced 53,438 cars during the month of July, down by 37.6% from a year earlier. Italy's industrial sales increased 3.1% in June, while French manufacturing climate indicator rose to 110 in August.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.06%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.08%, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.09%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.54% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.03%. Total new capital expenditure in Australia climbed 4.4% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter. The trade deficit in Hong Kong increased to HKD 34.9 billion in July from HKD 29.8 billion in the year-ago period.

Broker Recommendation

Piper Sandler maintained salesforce.com, inc. CRM with a Neutral and raised the price target from $240 to $280.

Salesforce shares rose 2.2% to $266.65 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• salesforce.com, inc. CRM reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and boosted its FY22 guidance.
• More than a million doses of Moderna Inc’s MRNA coronavirus vaccine have been taken out of circulation in Japan after reports of contamination emerged, Nikkei Asia reported.
• Williams-Sonoma, Inc. WSM reported upbeat results for its second quarter. The company announced a $1.25 billion buyback and also raised its dividend from $0.59 to $0.71 per share.
• Box, Inc. BOX reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter.

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