A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mixed; Crude Oil Edges Higher

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mixed in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones closed at a record high in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN, US Foods Holding Corp USFD and Aecom ACM.

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans is set to speak at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Investor Movement Index for April is scheduled for release at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 64 points to 34,750.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 0.25 points at 4,225.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 40 points to 13,669.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 32,707,790 with around 581,750 deaths. India reported a total of at least 22,662,570 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 15,184,790 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $68.67 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $65.23 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 2 to 344 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3% while German DAX 30 dropped 0.1%. The UK’s Halifax house price index increased 8.2% year-over-year in April.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.55%, while China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.27%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.05%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3%, and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.7%. Retail sales in Australia rose 1.3% in March, while the NAB business confidence index rose 9 points from the earlier month to a reading of 26 in March.

Broker Recommendation

Needham initiated coverage on TuSimple Holdings Inc. TSP with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $60.

TuSimple shares fell 0.5% to $37.09 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Univar Solutions Inc UNVR reported strong earnings for its first quarter and lifted its forecast for 2021.
• Apple Inc.’s AAPL supply chain has been hit as India grapples with a second wave of coronavirus infections.
• Cardtronics PLC CATM reported Q1 earnings of $0.42 per share, in line with the previous year. Total revenue dropped 12.6% to $267.8 million. The company also announced shareholder approval for acquisition by NCR.
• The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ethereum (ETH), crossed the psychologically important $4,000 barrier.

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