A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Rise On Economic Optimism

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones surged over 140 points in the previous session following upbeat data on initial jobless claims. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Hibbett Sports, Inc. HIBB and Caleres, Inc. CAL.

Data on U.S. international trade in goods, wholesale inventories, personal income and consumption expenditures for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Chicago PMI for May is scheduled for release at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for May will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 186 points to 34,623.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 14 points at 4,213.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 29.50 points to 13,695.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 33,218,040 with around 593,280 deaths. India reported a total of at least 27,555,450 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 16,342,160 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.2% to trade at $69.07 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.1% to trade at $66.79 a barrel. US natural-gas supplies gained 115 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.4%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.4%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4% while German DAX 30 gained 0.4%. French industrial producer prices dropped 0.3% in April following a 1% rise in March, while gross domestic product contracted by 0.1% on quarter during the first three months of the year. France's consumer price inflation increased to 1.4% year-over-year in May. Import prices in Germany surged 10.3% year-over-year in April.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.1%, while China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.22%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.04%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2% and India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.8%. Japan’s unemployment rate rose to 2.8% in April.

Broker Recommendation

Telsey Advisory Group maintained Best Buy Co., Inc. BBY with an Outperform and raised the price target from $130 to $140.

Best Buy shares rose 0.1% to $118.15 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• HP Inc HPQ reported upbeat results for its fiscal second quarter and raised its FY21 earnings forecast.
• salesforce.com, inc. CRM reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter. The company issued strong forecast for the current quarter and also raised its FY22 guidance.
• Big Lots, Inc. BIG reported better-than-expected Q1 results.
• Dell Technologies Inc DELL posted stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Thursday.

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