A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain Following Tuesday's Plunge

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones tumbled around 570 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Jabil Inc JBL, Worthington Industries, Inc. WOR and Cintas Corporation CTAS.

The pending home sales for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The pending home sales are projected to increase 0.9% in August after declining 1.8% in the previous month. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak at 11:45 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams is set to speak at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 207 points to 34,382.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 32.25 points to 4,375.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 147.50 points to 14,912.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 43,227,740 with around 692,970 deaths. India reported a total of at least 33,716,450 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,381,790 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $77.84 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $74.75 a barrel. The American Petroleum Institute, late Tuesday, reported a surprise rise of 4.127 million barrels in crude oil inventories for the week ending September 24. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index surged 1.1%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 1.2%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.9% while German DAX 30 gained 1.1%. Import prices in Germany rose 16.5% year-over-year in August, while Spain's consumer price inflation increased to 4% year-over-year in September from 3.3% in the earlier month. Producer prices in Italy climbed 11.6% year-over-year in August, while consumer credit in the UK rose by GBP 0.4 billion in August. The consumer confidence indicator in the Eurozone improved to -4.0 in September from -5.3 in the prior month, while services confidence indicator declined to 15.1 from 16.8. The economic sentiment indicator in the Eurozone rose to 117.8 in September from 117.6 in August.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.12%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.67%, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.83%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.1% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.4%.

Broker Recommendation

Bernstein upgraded The Boeing Company BA from Market Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $252 to $279.

Boeing shares rose 2.9% to $224.66 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Micron Technology Inc. MU reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, but issued disappointing guidance for the first quarter.
• GeoVax Labs, Inc. GOVX reported the purchase of exclusive rights to PNP Therapeutics' development and commercialization of Gedeptin. However, no terms of the deal were disclosed.
• Cal-Maine Foods Inc CALM reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its first quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.
• EQT Corporation EQT reported a 25.93 million share common stock offering via selling shareholders.

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