A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower; Crude Oil Down 1%

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade, after closing mixed in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Halliburton Company HAL, ManpowerGroup Inc. MAN and International Business Machines Corporation IBM.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 3,773,260 with around 140,530 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 2,098,380 cases, while India reported a total of at least 1,118,200 confirmed cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 31 points to 26,489 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 6.50 points to 3,207.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 12.50 points to 10,610.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1% to trade at $42.70 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.1% to trade at $40.16 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.5%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.9%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.7% and German DAX 30 declined 0.4%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.09%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.12%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 3.11% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.7%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Jefferies upgraded Dropbox, Inc. DBX from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $22 to $28.

Dropbox shares rose 2.4% to $21.33 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Quest Diagnostics Inc DGX reported that the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization to its COVID-19 test that can be used with up to four samples at a time..
• Luminex Corporation LMNX reported that it has received the FDA Emergency Use authorization for COVID-19 antibody test.
• EBay Inc. EBAY is nearing a deal to sell its classified-ads business to Norwegian marketplace operator Adevinta ASA, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• XpresSpa Group Inc XSPA reported a common stock offering of 10.5 million shares.