A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Higher; All Eyes On Jobs Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade ahead of the all-important jobs report for the month of September. Analysts expect nonfarm payrolls rising 475,000 in September following weaker-than-expected increase of 235,000 in the previous month. The unemployment rate is projected to decline to 5.1% from 5.2%. Data on wholesale inventories for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 39 points to 34,677.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 3.50 points to 4,393.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 0.75 points to 14,882.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 44,157,050 with around 710,160 deaths. India reported a total of at least 33,894,310 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,532,550 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.9% to trade at $82.65 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.9% to trade at $78.98 a barrel. US natural-gas supplies climbed 118 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.2% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.8%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1% while German DAX 30 dropped 0.1%. German current account surplus shrank to EUR 11.8 billion in August from EUR 16.7 billion in the year-ago month, while trade surplus narrowed to €10.7 billion from €11.9 billion.

Asian markets traded higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.34%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.55% and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.67%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.87% and India’s BSE Sensex surged 0.6%. Australian building permits climbed by 6.8% to 18,716 units in August. Japanese current account surplus shrank to JPY 1,665.6 billion in August from JPY 2,085.2 billion in the year-ago period, while household spending fell 3.0% annually in real terms. Average cash earnings in Japan increased 0.7% year-over-year in August. The Reserve Bank of India held its benchmark repo rate at 4% during its recent meeting. The Caixin China General Services PMI surged to 53.4 in September from 46.7 a month ago.

Broker Recommendation

JP Morgan downgraded J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. JBHT from Neutral to Underweight and announced a $150 price target.

JB Hunt shares fell 3.1% to $167.68 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here

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