A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Higher; Crude Oil Falls

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones jumped around 140 points in the previous session following the release of jobs data. Investors are awaiting earnings results from SRAX, Inc. SRAX and Atotech Limited ATC.

Data on factory orders for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Analysts expect factory orders dropping 0.6% in February.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 9 points to 34,727.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures slipped 6.50 points to 4,545.75. Futures for the Nasdaq index rose 49.25 points to 14,913.00.

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Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.9% to trade at $103.48 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.5% to trade at $98.81 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 2 to 533 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported Friday.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 81,832,610 with around 1,008,190 deaths. India reported a total of at least 43,029,040 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 29,999,810 cases.

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A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mixed today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.1%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.5% and London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.2%, while German DAX dropped 0.4%. The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Spain climbed 1007.8% year-over-year to 3.157 million in February, while number of people registered as unemployed in the country dropped by 2,921 from a month ago to 3.109 million in March. The German trade surplus shrank to €11.4 billion in February from €17.9 billion a year ago.

Asian markets traded higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.25% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 2.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3%, while India’s BSE SENSEX surged 2%. The S&P Global Indian manufacturing declined to 54.0 in March from 54.9 in the previous month. Retail sales in Australia rose by 1.8% from a month ago in February, while job advertisements rose by 0.4% to 245,891 in March.

Broker Recommendation

JP Morgan upgraded Zebra Technologies Corporation ZBRA from Neutral to Overweight and lowered the price target from $530 to $500.

Zebra Technologies shares dropped 0.1% to $413.25 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said that the electric vehicle maker is aiming at a 30% gross margin or about 10% profitability including all costs for its Supercharger network business.
• Nikola Corporation NKLA filed for mixed shelf of upto $1.2 billion.
• Conformis, Inc. CFMS named Michael Fillion as its Chief Operating Officer.
• Chinese online fast-fashion retailer SHEIN is mulling a $1 billion funding that could shoot its valuation past the owners of H&M, Uniqlo FRCOY, and Zara.

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