U.S. Stock Futures Higher Following Wednesday's Rally; Producer Price Index In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade on Thursday ahead of the Producer Price Index. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Cardinal Health, Inc. CAH, Illumina, Inc. ILMN and Hanesbrands Inc. HBI.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week and Producer Price Index for July will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 84 points to 33,344.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 11 points to 4,221.00. Futures for the Nasdaq index rose 51.75 points to 13,443.75.

Oil prices traded slightly higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.1% to trade at $97.47 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.1% to trade at $92.06 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release 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 94,348,500 with around 1,060,750 deaths. India reported a total of at least 44,206,990 confirmed cases, while France confirmed over 34,144,960 cases.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mixed today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index climbed 0.3%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.1%, while German DAX fell 0.2%.

Asian markets traded higher today. China’s Shanghai Composite climbed 1.6%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 2.4%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1%, while India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.9%.

Auto sales in China climbed 29.7% year-over-year to 2.42 million units in July following a 23.8% increase in the prior month.

Broker Recommendation

Keybanc upgraded First Solar, Inc. FSLR from Sector Weight to Overweight and announced a $145 price target.

First Solar shares rose 2.4% to $117.24 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Walt Disney Co DIS reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter on Wednesday. Disney added 14.4 million subscribers for Disney+ in the third quarter for a total of 152.1 million
• Bitcoin BTC/USD, the world’s oldest cryptocurrency, managed to surpass the $24,000 level again after recording losses over the previous few session.
• Sonos, Inc. SONO reported weaker-than-expected sales results for its third quarter and issued downbeat FY22 sales guidance. The company also announced that its CFO Brittany Bagley is stepping down to pursue another professional opportunity. Eddie Lazarus, the company's chief legal officer, will succeed Bagley as interim CFO, effective Sept. 1.
• Deliveries of Warren Buffett-backed BYD’s BYDDF blade batteries to Tesla Inc’s TSLA Berlin factory have already commenced, reported CnEVPost citing Sina Tech.

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