A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of Jobless Claims Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones climbed more than 200 points in the previous week

Data on initial jobless claims, retail sales and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on business inventories for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 31 points to 34,788.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 6 points to 4,475.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 29 points to 15,475.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 41,536,680 with around 666,610 deaths. India reported a total of at least 33,347,320 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,034,610 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.1% to trade at $75.36 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.2% to trade at $72.48 a barrel. US crude oil inventories dropped 6.4 million barrels last week, 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 higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.8% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.7%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 1%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4% while German DAX 30 gained 0.5%. The Eurozone trade surplus shrank to EUR 20.7 billion in July from EUR 26.8 billion in the year-ago period, while passenger car registrations in the European Union dropped 19.1% year-over-year to 623 thousand units in August. Italy’s trade surplus narrowed to EUR 8.762 billion in July from EUR 9.689 billion in the year-ago month.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.62%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.46%, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.34%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6%, while India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.7%. Hong Kong's unemployment rate declined to 4.7% in the June to August period, compared to 5% in the prior three-month period. Australian new home sales climbed 5.8% to 7,446 units in August, while unemployment rate dropped to 4.5% in August. Japan reported a trade deficit of JPY 635.36 billion in August.

Broker Recommendation

Deutsche Bank downgraded Unilever PLC UL from Buy to Hold.

Unilever shares fell 0.7% to $54.57 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Social media and family entertainment company Grom Social Enterprises Inc GROM closed a $4.4 million private placement
• Sealed Air Corp SEE announced the pricing of its offering of 1.573% senior secured notes due 2026. The offering was upsized from $425 million of Notes to $600 million of Notes.
• Moderna Inc MRNA shared a new follow-up analysis through 1 year in the Phase 3 COVE study, suggesting a lower risk of breakthrough infection in participants vaccinated more recently (median 8 months after the first dose) than participants vaccinated last year (median 13 months after the first dose).
• Messaging platform Discord Inc has secured fresh funding of $500 million, valuing the startup at $15 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

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