A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mixed Ahead of Fed Meeting

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mixed in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones climbed around 175 points in the previous session. The Federal Open Market Committee will start its two-day policy meeting today. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Jabil Inc JBL, Lennar Corporation LEN and Designer Brands Inc DBI.

Data on retail sales, and import and export prices for February will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for February will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while data on business inventories for January and the housing market index for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 46 points to 32,911.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 0.25 points at 3,967.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 51 points to 13,129.50.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 29,495,420 with around 535,620 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 11,519,600 cases, while India reported a total of at least 11,409,830 confirmed cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.7% to trade at $67.73 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.7% to trade at $64.29 a barrel. The API’s weekly report on crude inventories will be released later during the day.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.5%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.1%, German DAX 30 gained 0.6% while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.5%. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Eurozone increased 4.4 points to 74 in March, while the German ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment increased by 5.4 points to 76.6 in March. French consumer price inflation rate was revised higher to 0.6% year-over-year in February.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.52%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.78% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.67%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.1%. Hong Kong's unemployment rate increased to 7.2% in December-February, while industrial output in Japan jumped 4.3% in January. The house price index for Australia increased 3.0% percet quarter-on-quarter in the three months to December.

Broker Recommendation

Jefferies upgraded AstraZeneca PLC AZN from Hold to Buy..

AstraZeneca shares rose 2.1% to $49.80 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• Nokia Corporation NOK will lower 10,000 jobs over the next two years to trim costs, Reuters reported.
• Zedge Inc ZDGE reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter. The company said it sees FY21 sales growth of 75%-80%.
• Moderna Inc MRNA said Monday that it had commenced testing the next generation of its COVID-19 vaccine.
• Option Care Health Inc OPCH reported a 12 million share common stock offering via selling shareholders.

Check out other breaking news here