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

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after closing mixed in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Hormel Foods Corp HRL, American Eagle Outfitters Inc AEO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE and Broadcom Inc. AVGO.

The Challenger job-cut report for August is scheduled for release at 7:30 a.m. ET, while data on international trade, initial jobless claims, non-farm productivity and unit labor costs will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on factory orders for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 68 points to 35,358.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 9.25 points to 4,530.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 35.75 points to 15,645.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 39,396,230 with around 642,080 deaths. India reported a total of at least 32,857,930 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 20,804,210 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.1% to trade at $71.63 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.1% to trade at $68.60 a barrel. US crude oil inventories dropped 7.169 million barrels in the week ending August 27th, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The Energy Information Administration’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 slightly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1% while German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain fell 82,583 to 3.3 million in August.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.33%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.11%, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.84%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.55% and India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.6%. Australian trade surplus widened to a fresh record high of AUD 12.11 billion in July versus revised AUD 11.1 billion in the prior month. Exports of goods and services from the country rose 5%, while imports increased 3% in July.

Broker Recommendation

Keybanc maintained Asana, Inc. ASAN with an Overweight and raised the price target from $75 to $85.

Asana shares rose 8.3% to $83.72 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Moderna Inc MRNA disclosed that it had initiated its submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for evaluation of a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine at the 50 microgram dose level. The company said it expects to submit data to the European Medicines Agency and other regulatory authorities globally in the “coming days.”
• Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday the new Beta version of its full self-driving (FSD) software will roll out at midnight next Friday, a week later than the date previously announced.
• Five Below Inc FIVE reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter, while sales missed expectations. The company also said it sees Q3 earnings of $0.23 to $0.30 per share on sales of $550 million to $565 million.
• Semtech Corporation SMTC reported better-than-expected Q2 results and issued Q3 adjusted EPS guidance above estimates.

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