U.S. Stock Futures Higher Ahead Of Bank Earnings, Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade on Thursday after closing mixed in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Citigroup Inc. C, Wells Fargo & Company WFC and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated UNH.

Data on retail sales for June, Empire State manufacturing index for July, import and export prices for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for June will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while data on business inventories for May and University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 8:45 a.m. ET.

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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 90 points to 30,694.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 11.50 points to 3,804.75. Futures for the Nasdaq index rose 36.75 points to 11,834.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.7% to trade at $99.79 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $96.00 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released 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 91,060,220 with around 1,048,230 deaths. India reported a total of at least 43,710,020 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 33,142,150 cases.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.9%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.7%, while German DAX rose 1.7%. The Eurozone reported a trade gap of EUR 26.3 in May, versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 12.0 billion. Passenger car registrations in the European Union dipped 15.4% year-over-year to 886,510 units in June. The annual inflation rate in Italy climbed 8% year-over-year in June, the highest since January 1986.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.54%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.64% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.2%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7%, while India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.4%. China's retail trade unexpectedly climbed by 3.1% year-over-year in June, while the country’s economy contracted by 2.6% on quarter during the three months to June. China's industrial production rose by 3.9% year-over-year in June, while average new home prices slipped by 0.5% year-over-year in June.

Broker Recommendation

Goldman Sachs downgraded Yelp Inc. YELP from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $49 to $33.

Yelp shares fell 0.5% to close at $26.82 on Thursday.

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Breaking News

Pinterest Inc PINS shares jumped 14% in pre-market trading following a WSJ report suggesting Elliott Management has been in discussions with the company.
Private space company SpaceX, owned by Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk, has successfully launched its 25th commercial resupply services (CRS) mission for NASA.
NexImmune, Inc. NEXI received Investigational New Drug clearance from the FDA for its first cellular therapy product candidate NEXI-003 addressing solid tumors.
Volkswagen AG's VWAGY PowerCo global battery manufacturing business, which it plans to plan to spin-off in an initial public offering in 2023, is facing the impact of supply chain challenges, Bloomberg reported.