A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Drop; Jobless Claims Data In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones tumbled over 160 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Hormel Foods Corp HRL, BJs Wholesale Club Holdings Inc BJ, Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT and Ross Stores, Inc. ROST.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Jobless claims are expected to decline to 460,000 for the May 15 week from 473,000 in the previous week. The Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index for May is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the index of leading economic indicators for April will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 162 points to 33,669.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 17.25 points at 4,094.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 47.50 points to 13,186.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 33,026,730 with around 587,870 deaths. India reported a total of at least 25,772,440 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 15,812,050 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.1% to trade at $66.74 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $63.49 a barrel. US crude oil inventories climbed 1.3 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The EIA’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 higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.6%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3% while German DAX 30 gained 0.5%. The Eurozone current account surplus increased to EUR 31.0 billion in March versus EUR 24.6 billion in the year-ago month. Construction output in Italy jumped 74.5% year-over-year in March following a 3.5% increase in the prior month, while German producer prices rose 5.2% year-over-year in April.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.19%, while China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.11%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.5%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.1%. China held its benchmark interest rates for corporate and household loans steady. Australia's unemployment rate slipped to 5.5% in April from 5.6%. Core machinery orders in Japan climbed 3.7% in March. Imports to Japan surged 12.8% year-over-year to a 27-month high level of JPY 6,926 billion in April, while exports climbed 38.0% year-over-year to JPY 7,181 billion.

Broker Recommendation

Deutsche Bank upgraded Ingersoll Rand Inc. IR from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $50 to $54..

Ingersoll Rand shares fell 1.4% to close at $47.74 on Wednesday.

Breaking News

• Cisco Systems Inc CSCO reported upbeat results for its third quarter, but issued weak profit forecast for the current quarter.
• Synopsys, Inc. SNPS reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and issued strong forecast for the current quarter.
• L Brands Inc LB reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter and issued strong earnings forecast for the current quarter. The company named Wendy Arlin as Bath & Body Works CFO and Tim Johnson as Victoria's Secret CFO.
• Ford Motor Co F and South Korean battery maker SK Innovation are close to announcing a battery joint venture in the United States to aid the maker of the F-150 Lightning truck boost its electric vehicle roll-out, Reuters reported.

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