A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start On Wall Street; Crude Oil Rises

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones surged over 100 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Nordson Corporation NDSN and America's Car-Mart, Inc. CRMT.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for April is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET, while Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester will speak at 11:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 12:00 p.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George will speak at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 148 points to 34,301.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 20.25 points at 4,172.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 80.25 points to 13,485.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 33,117,760 with around 589,890 deaths. India reported a total of at least 26,752,440 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 16,083,250 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.5% to trade at $67.46 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.6% to trade at $64.63 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 4 to 356 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 slipped 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% while German DAX 30 gained 0.4%. Eurozone composite PMI climbed to 56.9 in May from 53.8 in April. German composite PMI climbed to 56.2 in May from 55.8 in the prior month, while French composite PMI surged to 57 from 51.6.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.17%, while China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.31%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.16%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.3%.

Broker Recommendation

Bernstein upgraded Beyond Meat, Inc. BYND from Underperform to Outperform and announced a $130 price target.

Beyond Meat shares rose 4.1% to $111.00 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Annovis Bio Inc ANVS said it priced 1 million share public offering at $50 per share. The company's shares surged 127% on Friday after the company announced new results from a Phase 2 study evaluating its lead drug candidate, ANVS401, for Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD).
• Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd BABA says the number of vendors that have signed up for the "6.18" mid-year online shopping festival has doubled from last year, according to a report by China state-affiliated media Caixin Global. The company’s co-founder Jack Ma will step down from his position at Hupan University, an elite business academy he founded six years ago, according to a Financial Times report.
• Canada’s Algoma Steel is in talks with Legato Merger Corp LEGO to go public through a SPAC merger, according to Bloomberg.
• The British automobile data startup Wejo Ltd, backed by General Motors Company GM is in talks to go public with Virtuoso Acquisition Corp VOSO through a SPAC merger, Bloomberg reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

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