A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mostly Higher After Friday's Record Close

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly higher in early pre-market trade after hitting another record highs in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from US Foods Holding Corp. USFD, PayPal Holdings, Inc. PYPL and Tencent Music Entertainment Group TME.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Chief Executive Officer Kenneth C Montgomery will speak at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak at 10:30 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will speak at 1:50 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 71 points to 36,286.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 3.25 points to 4,693.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 2.50 points to 16,349.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 47,336,570 with around 775,210 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,366,610 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,880,430 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.9% to trade at $83.51 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1% to trade at $82.06 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 6 to 450 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mixed today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.2% and STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% while German DAX 30 dropped 0.1%.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.35%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.43% and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.20%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1%, while India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.8%. The index of leading economic indicators in Japan fell to 99.7 in September following a final reading of 101.3 a month ago, while index of coincident economic indicators fell to its lowest level in a year of 87.5 in September. China's trade surplus widened to a record high of $84.54 billion in October, with imports rising by 20.6%, while exports jumping 27.1% year-on-year. Foreign exchange reserves in China climbed to $3.218 trillion in October from $3.201 trillion in September.

Broker Recommendation

Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter downgraded Aptiv PLC APTV from Overweight to Neutral.

Aptiv shares rose 0.1% to $175.11 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• W. R. Berkley Corporation WRB declared a special quarterly cash dividend of $1 per share and a regular quarterly cash dividend of 13 cents per share. The company’s board also increased its share buyback authorization to 10 million shares.
• Key Apple Inc AAPL chip supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd TSM said it has responded to a U.S. request for data related to the global chip shortage, Reuters reported, citing the company.
• Trinseo PLC TSE reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views. The company announced planned divestiture of its styrenics businesses and said it sees FY21 adjusted EBITDA of $750 million to $800 million.
• Tesla, Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk took the investment world by storm by running a Twitter poll on whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock.

Check out other breaking news here