A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Higher; Crude Oil Gains 1%

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade ahead of wholesale inventories data. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Biofrontera BFRI and Sunlands Technology STG.

Data on wholesale inventories for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Analysts expect wholesale inventories rising 1.5% in February, down 6 tenths from the first estimate.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 168 points to 34,658.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 22.75 points to 4,519.00. Futures for the Nasdaq index rose 94 points to 14,630.00.

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Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.2% to trade at $101.74 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.3% to trade at $97.26 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.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 81,988,270 with around 1,011,090 deaths. India reported a total of at least 43,033,060 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 30,094,380 cases.

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A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 1.4%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.6% and London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.2%. The French CAC 40 Index gained 1.8%, while German DAX climbed 1.7%. Industrial production in Spain climbed 3% year-over-year in February.

Asian markets traded higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.36%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.29%, and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.47%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5%, while India’s BSE SENSEX rose 0.8%. The consumer confidence index in Japan fell to a 14-month low level of 32.8 in March, while the country’s current account surplus shrank to JPY 1,648.3 billion in February from JPY 2,866.0 billion in the same month of the prior year. The Reserve Bank of India held its benchmark repo rate at a record low level of 4% at its April meeting.

Broker Recommendation

RBC Capital upgraded Gatos Silver, Inc. GATO from Underperform to Sector Perform and announced a $4 price target.

Gatos Silver shares rose 3.3% to $4.64 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• PriceSmart, Inc. PSMT reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter.
• Kura Sushi USA KRUS reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and reaffirmed its FY22 guidance.
• Ford Motor Co F said on Thursday it will pay a second-quarter dividend of 10 cents per share on outstanding shares of the company's common and Class B stock.
• WD-40 Company WDFC reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter. The company said it sees FY22 earnings of $5.14 to $5.27 per share on sales $522 million to $547 million.

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