US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street; Verizon, American Express Earnings In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade on Friday after closing lower in the previous session. The Dow Jones dropped by 90 points on Thursday. US initial jobless claims declined by 12,000 to 214,000 in the week ending October 15th, compared to market estimates of 230,000.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams is set to speak at 9:10 a.m. ET.

Investors are awaiting earnings results from American Express Company AXP, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, Schlumberger Limited SLB and HCA Healthcare, Inc. HCA.

Check out this: Volatility In Markets Decreases, Dow Drops Around 90 Points

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 147 points to 30,206.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures slipped 24.75 points to 3,650.50. Futures for the Nasdaq index fell 109.75 points to 10,981.00.

Commodities

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.9% to trade at $91.51 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.1% to trade at $83.58 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Gold futures fell 0.7% to trade at $1,625.70 an ounce, while silver traded down 2% at $18.32 an ounce on Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

Europe Markets

European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 1.6%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.9% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 2.1%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 1.7%, while German DAX fell 1.7%.

Retail sales in the UK fell 1.4% month-over-month in September versus a revised 1.8% drop in the previous month, while GfK Consumer Confidence indicator in the country increased to - 47 in October.

Asia-Pacific Markets

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.43%, China’s Composite Index rose 0.13%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.42%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8%, while India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.1%.

The business confidence indicator in Hong Kong fell to 4 in the fourth quarter versus a reading of 6 in the prior period. The annual inflation rate in Japan was unchanged at 3.0% in September.

Broker Recommendation

Raymond James upgraded Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR from Outperform to Strong Buy and raised the price target from $36 to $37.

Juniper shares rose 1.3% to $27.98 in pre-market trading.

Check out this: Fear Among US Investors Is Decreasing, Here's Why

Breaking News

• Snap Inc. SNAP reported its slowest sales growth since going public. Snap announced a $500-million buyback Thursday along with its financial results. The company said due to the “operating environment” it will not provide guidance on revenue or adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter.
• The U.S. is reportedly discussing the possibility of subjecting Elon Musk’s companies to national security reviews. U.S. government and intelligence officials are weighing in on the possibility of using tools to review Musk’s multiple ventures and the talks are still at an early stage, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
• CSX Corporation CSX posted better-than-expected results for its third quarter.
• The Boston Beer Company, Inc. SAM posted upbeat earnings and sales results for its third quarter.

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