A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after recording gains in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company HPE, salesforce.com, inc. CRM and NetApp, Inc. NTAP.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index and FHFA's house price index for September will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Chicago PMI for November will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for November is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak at 10:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 501 points to 34,576.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 54.50 points to 4,596.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 104 points to 16,286.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 49,301,070 with around 801,320 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,587,820 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 22,084,740 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 2.4% to trade at $71.49 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 2.2% to trade at $68.43 a barrel. The API’s report on crude oil stocks will be released later during the day.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.8% and STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 1.3%. The French CAC 40 Index tumbled 1.6%, London’s FTSE 100 dipped 1.5% while German DAX 30 declined 1.5%. Spain's retail sales fell 0.7% year-over-year in October. The annual inflation rate in France accelerated to 2.8% in November from 2.6% in October, while quarterly economic growth was confirmed at 3% on quarter in the third quarter. Household consumption of goods in France slipped 0.4% in October, while industrial producer prices increased 2.9% in October. Italy’s gross domestic product expanded by 2.6% on the quarter during the three months to September. The number of unemployed people in Germany fell by 34,000 to 2.428 million in November, while unemployment rate stood at 3.3% in October.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.63%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.58% and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.03%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.22%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.6%. Japan's housing starts climbed 10.4% year-over-year in October, while industrial production rose 1.1% in October. The official NBS manufacturing PMI for China climbed to 50.1 in November from 49.2 in October, while non-manufacturing PMI came in at 52.3 in November. Australia's current account surplus widened to AUD 23.9 billion in the third quarter, while building permits dipped 12.9% to 15,911 units in October.

Broker Recommendation

Goldman Sachs downgraded Dollar Tree, Inc. DLTR from Buy to Neutral and raised the price target from $116 to $150.

Dollar Tree shares fell 2.9% to $137.25 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• Moderna, Inc. MRNA CEO, said in Financial Times interview, that vaccines are likely less effective against the Omicron variant.
• UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH said it sees FY21 adjusted earnings of $18.75 to $18.90 per share on revenue of approximately $287 billion. The company also expects FY22 adjusted EPS of $21.10-$21.60 and revenue of $317 billion to $320 billion.
• Chatham Asset Management offered to acquire R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company RRD for $10.25 per share in cash.
• Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said Monday that the automaker’s upcoming Cybertruck would be an “insane technology bandwagon.”

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