A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down; Walmart Earnings In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones dropped around 50 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from US Foods Holding Corp. USFD, Walmart Inc. WMT and AutoNation, Inc. AN.

Data on initial jobless claims, Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index, housing starts and permits for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard is set to speak at 11:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 195 points to 34,656.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 27.25 points to 4,442.75. Futures for the Nasdaq index declined 106.50 points to 14,493.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.7% to trade at $93.19 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.9% to trade at $91.93 a barrel. US crude-oil inventories gained 1.1 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The EIA’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 79,785,240 with around 952,600 deaths. India reported a total of at least 42,754,310 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 27,812,210 cases.

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A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.2%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.4% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.6%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.2%, while German DAX dropped 0.1%. Italy’s trade surplus shrank to EUR 1.103 billion in December from EUR 6.789 billion in the year-ago month, while Spain's trade deficit widened to €5.3 billion in December from €1.1 billion. Passenger car sales in the European Union dropped 6% year-over-year to 682,596 in January.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.83%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.3% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%, while India’s BSE SENSEX fell 0.2%. Australia's unemployment rate stood at 4.2% in January, while Japan's trade deficit widened to JPY 2,191.1 billion in January from JPY 327.2 billion in the year-ago month.

Broker Recommendation

JP Morgan downgraded CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF from Overweight to Neutral and raised the price target from $70 to $75.

CF Industries shares fell 1.5% to $73.30 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO reported better-than-expected earnings and sale results for its fourth quarter. The board of directors approved a $15 billion increase to stock repurchases, increasing the remaining authorized amount for stock repurchases to now be $18 billion. Management also declared a 3% quarterly dividend increase.
• Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) is urging Apple Inc AAPL investors to vote against CEO Tim Cook’s pay packet, which is more than a thousandfold higher than an average company employee.
• NVIDIA Corporation NVDA posted upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.
• Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT reported better-than-expected Q1 results and issued Q2 guidance.

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