A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Flat Ahead Of Earnings, Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Eli Lilly and Company LLY, Union Pacific Corporation UNP, The Hershey Company HSY and Domino's Pizza, Inc. DPZ. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index for April is scheduled for release at 9:45 a.m. ET. Data on new home sales for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for April is scheduled for release at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The U.S. is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and deaths around the world. Total COVID-19 cases in the U.S. exceeded 842,620 with around 46,780 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 208,380 cases, while Italy reported a total of at least 187,320 confirmed cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10 points to 23,366 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 5.10 points to 2,793.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 9 points to 8,647.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 7.1% to trade at $21.82 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 11.1% to trade at $15.31 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.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.1%, STOXX Europe 600 Index slipping 0.3% and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.6%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.1%, while French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.1%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.52%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.35%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.19% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 1.3%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Citigroup downgraded Biogen Inc BIIB from Neutral to Sell.

Biogen shares fell 1.5% to $293.70 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Xilinx, Inc. XLNX reported upbeat results for its first quarter, but issued weak sales forecast for the first quarter.
• Seagate Technology PLC STX reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter.
• Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. APD reported downbeat earnings for its second quarter, while sales surpassed views.
• Dynavax Technologies Corporation DVAX shares climbed over 10% in pre-market trading after the company reported collaboration with Valneva to advance vaccine development for coronavirus.