A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Following Friday's Sell-Off

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after recording sharp losses in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from The Coca-Cola Company KO, Whirlpool Corporation WHR and Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for March is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Dallas Fed manufacturing index for April will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 311 points to 33,417.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 41.50 points to 4,225.75. Futures for the Nasdaq index fell 130.50 points to 13,223.00.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 4% to trade at $101.96 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 4% to trade at $101.96 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 1 to 549 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 82,662,740 with around 1,018,330 deaths. India reported a total of at least 43,060,080 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 30,349,460 cases.

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A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 1.9%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 2.2%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 2.2%, while German DAX dipped 1.6%.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.9%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 3.5% and China’s Shanghai Composite dipped 5.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.6%, while India’s BSE SENSEX fell 1.1%. The index of coincident economic indicators in Japan rose to 96.8 in February from the flash figure of 95.5, while index of leading economic indicators fell to 100.0 in February from the preliminary reading of 100.9.

Broker Recommendation

Keybanc maintained Salesforce, Inc. CRM with an Overweight and lowered the price target from $281 to $223.

Salesforce shares fell 0.7% to $170.19 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• The sale of Twitter Inc TWTR to Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk could be finalized this week, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
• Apple Inc's AAPL premier supplier Foxconn Technology halted operations at two of its factories in Kunshan, located in China's Jiangsu province, after a recent surge in COVID-19 cases was reported on-site, according to SCMP.
• Park National Corporation PRK posted a net income $2.38 per share for the first quarter, down from $2.61 per share in the year-ago quarter.
• The Central African Republic has reportedly become the second country to adopt Bitcoin BTC/USD as legal tender.

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