A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Higher; All Eyes On Fed's Rate Decision

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade ahead of the much-awaited interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Moderna, Inc. MRNA, CVS Health Corporation CVS and Uber Technologies,UBER.

The ADP national employment report for April will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET, while international trade report for March is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. The services PMI for April will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the ISM services PMI for April is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET. After increasing its policy target by a quarter point in March, analysts are expecting a half point hike during the meeting. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Check out our premarket coverage here

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 73 points to 33,106.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 10.75 points to 4,180.00. Futures for the Nasdaq index gained 20 points to 13,107.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 3.2% to trade at $108.32 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 3.4% to trade at $105.86 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released 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 83,240,100 with around 1,021,580 deaths. India reported a total of at least 43,088,400 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 30,482,420 cases.

Check out this: 4 Stocks Under $3 Insiders Are Aggressively Buying

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.5%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.4%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.5%, while German DAX declined 0.3%. Retail sales in the Eurozone dropped 0.4% from a month ago in March, while services PMI rose to 57.7 in April from 55.6 in March. Consumer credit in the UK rose by GBP 1.3 billion in March. The S&P Global France services PMI climbed to 58.9 in April from 57.4 in the previous month, while German services PMI was revised lower to 57.6 in April from a preliminary level of 57.9. The S&P Global Italian services PMI climbed to 55.7 in April from 52.1 a month ago, while Spanish services PMI increased to 57.1 from 53.4.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.11%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dipped 1.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1.7%. The Reserve Bank of India surprisingly increased its key repo rate by 40bps to 4.4%. Retail sales in Australia gained 1.6% in March, while services PMI climbed to 56.1 in April from 55.6 in the prior month.

Broker Recommendation

Jefferies downgraded Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. HLF from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $60 to $26.

Herbalife shares fell 16.6% to $23.00 in pre-market trading.

Check out this: Executives Buy More Than $78M Of 3 Stocks

Breaking News

• Airbnb, Inc. ABNB reported upbeat results for its first quarter and issued strong revenue forecast for the current quarter.
• Starbucks Corp SBUX reported second-quarter revenue of $7.64 billion, which was up 15% year-over-year. The quarterly revenue was a second-quarter record for the company and came in ahead of a consensus estimate of $7.6 billion.
• Lyft, Inc. LYFT reported a narrower loss for its first quarter, while sales topped estimates. However, the company issued a weak outlook for the second quarter.
• Gentherm Incorporated THRM announced plans to acquire Alfmeier's automotive business for €177.5 million in cash.

Check out other breaking news here