A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Earnings, Jobless Claims Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones climbed over 150 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from AT&T Inc. T, Intel Corporation INTC, Dow Inc DOW, Southwest Airlines LUV and Union Pacific UNP.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect jobless claims increasing to 300,000 for the October 16 week from 293,000 in the previous week. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for October is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on existing home sales for September and the index of leading economic indicators for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 108 points to 35,369.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 11.50 points to 4,516.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 24 points to 15,353.50.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 46,092,360 with around 751,810 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,127,450 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,680,480 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.9% to trade at $85.04 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $82.88 a barrel. US crude oil inventories dropped 400,000 barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The EIA’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released 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 slipped 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.4%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% while German DAX 30 dropped 0.1%. Italy’s industrial sales increased 0.8% in August. The manufacturing climate indicator for France came in unchanged at 107 in October. Public sector net borrowing in the UK came in at £21.8 billion for September.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.87%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.45% and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.22%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.02%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.7%. Hong Kong’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.5% in the July to September period compared to 4.7% in the prior three-month period.

Broker Recommendation

Barclays downgraded LivePerson, Inc. LPSN from Equal-Weight to Underweight and announced a $50 price target.

LivePerson shares fell 2.1% to $56.08 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

Tesla Inc TSLA reported stronger-than-expected financial results for the third quarter. Tesla produced 237,823 vehicles, up 64% year-over-year.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC, which recently announced it would accept meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin DOGE/USD for the sale of digital gift cards, is exploring the possibility of issuing its own cryptocurrency in future.

IBM IBM reported weaker-than-expected revenue for its third quarter on Wednesday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved booster shots of Moderna Inc.’s MRNA and Jonson & Johnson’s JNJ COVID-19 vaccines as well as authorized “mixing and matching” of the booster doses.

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