A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down After Fed Announcement

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Wall Street closed lower in the previous session as the Federal Reserve signaled sooner-than-expected hike in interest rates. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Kroger Co KR, Jabil Inc JBL and Adobe Inc ADBE.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect jobless claims declining to 360,000 for the June 12 week from 376,000 in the prior week. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for June is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the index of leading economic indicators for May will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 114 points to 33,903.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures declined 12.50 points at 4,210.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 64 points to 13,917.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 33,498,500 with around 600,650 deaths. India reported a total of at least 29,700,310 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 17,628,580 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.8% to trade at $73.82 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $71.66 a barrel. US crude-oil inventories dropped 7.4 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 lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.4%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4% while German DAX 30 dropped 0.2%. Passenger car registrations in the European Union surged 53.4% year-over-year to 891,665 units in May. Spanish trade deficit shrank to EUR 1.30 billion in April from EUR 1.52 billion in the year-ago month, while Italy swung to a trade surplus of EUR 5.870 billion in April versus a EUR 1.117 billion gap in the year-ago period.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.93%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.43% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.21%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.4% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.5%. Average new home prices in China climbed 4.9% year-on-year in May, while Reuters Tankan index in Japan increased 1 point to a reading of 22 in June. Australia's unemployment rate declined to 5.1% in May, while Hong Kong's jobless rate fell to 6.0% during the March to May period.

Broker Recommendation

CICC upgraded Noah Holdings Limited NOAH from Market Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $53.5 to $57.8.

Noah Holdings shares fell 1% to close at $44.06 on Wednesday.

Breaking News

• Microsoft Corporation MSFT reported that CEO Satya Nadella will take over the role of company chair.
• Apple Inc AAPL planned to offer its own primary-care medical service, complete with doctors in the tech giant's employ, to roll out a subscription-based personalized health program, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• Lennar Corporation LEN reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter. The company also said it expects Q3 deliveries of 15,800 to 16,000 homes.
• Cannabis tech firm WM Holding Company, LLC (WMH) known for its Weedmaps brand, is now trading on the Nasdaq. The milestone was made possible by the company’s completion of its previously announced merger with investment management firm Silver Spike Acquisition Corp SSPK.

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