A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mixed Ahead Of Producer Prices, Wholesale Inventories Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mixed in early pre-market trade after the Nasdaq index added 140 points in the previous session despite downbeat report on weekly jobless claims. Investors are awaiting earnings results from JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd JKS.

The Producer Price Index for March is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on wholesale inventories for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 68 points to 33,458.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 3.75 points at 4,092.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 20.25 points to 13,727.50.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 31,002,570 with around 560,110 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 13,279,850 cases, while India reported a total of at least 13,060,540 confirmed cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.5% to trade at $62.87 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.3% to trade at $59.40 a barrel. US natural-gas supplies gained 20 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today . The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.2%, German DAX 30 dropped 0.2% while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.4%. UK’s Halifax house price index increased 6.5% year-over-year in March. Spain's industrial production fell 2.1% from a year ago in February. German current account surplus shrank to EUR 18.8 billion in February from EUR 20.2 billion in the year-ago month, while trade surplus narrowed to €18.1 billion from €20.3 billion. Industrial production in Germany declined 1.6% in February, while industrial production in France dropped 4.7% in February.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.20%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.92% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.07%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.3%. Building permits in Australia climbed 21.6% for February, while the Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Services Index surged to 58.7 in March versus 55.8 in the prior month. China's producer prices increased 4.4% year-over-year in March, while consumer price index rose by 0.4% year-over-year in March.

Broker Recommendation

Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Performance Food Group Company PFGC with an Overweight rating and announced a price target of $64.

Performance Food shares fell 0.2% to close at $57.49 on Thursday.

Breaking News

• Levi Strauss & Co. LEVI reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter and raised its H1'21 net sales growth guidance. The company also lifted its quarterly dividend from $0.04 to $0.06 per share.
• Plant-based food maker Impossible Foods Inc is planning to go public in 2022, according to Reuters. The maker of faux-meat is exploring options to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal, or a merger with a blank-check company, which could value the company at around $10 billion, according to the report.
• PriceSmart, Inc. PSMT reported downbeat results for its second quarter. The company’s comparable net merchandise sales rose 1.1% year over year..
• Tesla Inc TSLA raised the prices of some of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles late Thursday. This is the third such price increase by the electric vehicle maker in a month.

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