US Stock Futures Rise Following Wednesday's Plunge

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade on Thursday after recording sharp losses on Wednesday. The Dow Jones closed lower by more than 500 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell over 200 points in the previous session after the US Fed raised its policy rate by 75 basis points for the third time and indicated that it will continue to hike well above the current level.

Data on initial jobless claims and current account will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Jobless claims are expected to come in at 220,000 for the September 17 week compared to 213,000 in the previous week, while analysts expect a deficit of $259.5 billion for the second quarter. The index of leading economic indicators for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for September will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 75 points to 30,357.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 6.75 points to 3,813.00. Futures for the Nasdaq index rose 14.25 points to 11,724.25.

Commodities

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.9% to trade at $90.62 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1% to trade at $83.74 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.

Gold futures gained 0.2% to trade at $1,679.00 an ounce, while silver traded up 0.9% at $19.645 an ounce on Thursday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

Europe Markets

European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.7%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.6%, while German DAX dropped 0.5%.

The manufacturing climate indicator in France declined for a third month to a reading of 102 in September from a revised 103 in August.

Asia-Pacific Markets

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.58%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.61% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.27%. India’s S&P BSE SENSEX fell 0.4%.

The Bank of Japan held its key short-term interest rate at -0.1% at its recent meeting. The Japanese finance ministry intervened in the currency market to support the country’s currency for the first time since 1998. The annual inflation rate in Hong Kong came in steady at a seven-month high of 1.9% in August, unchanged versus the prior month, while the country’s current account surplus shrank to HKD 30.9 billion in the second quarter from HKD 70.4 billion in the year-ago period.

Broker Recommendation

JP Morgan downgraded Novavax, Inc. NVAX from Neutral to Underweight and lowered the price target from $132 to $27.

Novavax shares fell 4.5% to $24.70 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• KB Home KBH reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter. The company also said it sees Q4 housing revenue of $1.95 billion to $2.05 billion.
• General Motors Corporation GM said on Wednesday that it would stop accepting reservations for the all-electric GMC Hummer pickup and GMC Hummer SUV, according to a CNBC report.
• Lennar Corporation LEN reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter on Wednesday.
• China’s leading online travel service provider Trip.com Group Ltd TCOM reported a second-quarter profit of RMB 43 million ($6 million) compared to a net loss of RMB 659 million ($93.5 million) a year earlier and RMB 1 billion in the previous quarter.

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