A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mostly Higher; Crude Oil Rises Over 1%

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly higher in early pre-market trade after recording a slight gain in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB and Concentrix Corporation CNXC.

Data on durable goods orders for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. A headline rebound of 0.6% is expected for August following a 0.1% decline a month ago. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for September is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans is set to speak at 8:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 9:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 126 points to 34,800.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 7 points to 4,452.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 28.75 points to 15,290.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 42,931,400 with around 688,030 deaths. India reported a total of at least 33,678,780 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,351,970 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.2% to trade at $78.15 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.2% to trade at $74.90 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs climbed by 10 to 421 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.3%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3% while German DAX 30 climbed 0.9%. Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.2% in August, unchanged from the earlier month's growth. Producer prices in Spain surged 18% year-over-year in August following a 15.6% increase in the prior month.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.03%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.07%, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.84%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.1%. The index of leading economic indicators in Japan, slipped to 104.1 in July from 104.2 in the prior month, while index of coincident economic indicators declined to 94.4 from 94.6 a month ago.

Broker Recommendation

SVB Leerink initiated coverage on Humana HUM with an Outperform rating and announced a price target of $494.

Humana shares fell 0.1% to $398.34 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Some key China-based suppliers of Apple Inc AAPL and Tesla Inc TSLA have halted production at their facilities to follow Beijing's tighter energy consumption policy, Nikkei Asia reported, citing suppliers.
• The Middleby Corporation MIDD reported the acquisition of Imperial Commercial Cooking Equipment.
• Terminix Global Holdings Inc TMX reported the resignation of COO Kim Scott and affirmed its full-year 2021 guidance.
• Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc HKMPF agreed to acquire US-based generic sterile injectables producer Custopharm Inc from Water Street Healthcare Partners.

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