A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Consumer Sentiment Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after closing mixed in the previous session despite reporting unexpected rise in retail sales.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for September is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. Consumer sentiment dropped sharply by more than 10 points to 70.3 in August. However, analysts expect September’s reading to recover slightly to 72.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 42 points to 34,707.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 9.50 points to 4,464.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 28.25 points to 15,489.50.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 41,785,970 with around 670,000 deaths. India reported a total of at least 33,347,320 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,069,010 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $75.21 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $72.07 a barrel. US natural-gas supplies surged 83 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 1.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.6%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.6%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% while German DAX 30 gained 0.2%. The Eurozone annual inflation rate was confirmed at 3.0% for August, while construction output increased 3.3% year-over-year in July. The Eurozone current account surplus increased to EUR 30.2 billion in July from EUR 26.1 billion in the year-ago period. Retail sales volumes in the UK fell 0.9% in August.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.58%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.48%, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.15%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8%, while India’s BSE Sensex gained 0.3%.

Broker Recommendation

Exane BNP Paribas downgraded Autoliv, Inc. ALV from Neutral to Underperform and announced an $87 price target.

Autoliv shares rose 1.2% to $85.35 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

• USANA Health Sciences, Inc. USNA lowered its guidance for FY21 and raised its buyback program to $150 million. The company also reported preliminary Q3 earnings of $1.28 to $1.33 per share and sales of $265 million to $270 million.
• International Flavors & Fragrances Inc IFF named Glenn Richter as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The company also said it expects FY21 sales of $11.55 billion, versus analysts’ expectations of $11.44 billion.
• A subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. has agreed to pay a fine of $4.75 million to settle allegations by Massachusetts securities regulators that it failed to supervise its employees, including Keith Gill, who inspired the GameStop Corp. GME short squeeze earlier this year.
• Carrier Global Corporation CARR agreed to acquire BrokerBay Inc. However, no terms of the deal were disclosed.

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