A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mostly Flat Ahead Of Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones dropped 250 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Fastenal Company FAST, AZZ Inc AZZ and Smart Global Holdings Inc SGH.

The Labor Department's JOLTS report for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Job openings are projected to increase to 11.013 million in August compared to July's better-than-expected reading of 10.934 million. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida is set to speak at 11:15 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6 points to 34,370.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 1.25 points to 4,352.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 17 points to 14,725.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 45,313,350 with around 734,610 deaths. India reported a total of at least 33,985,920 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,582,730 cases.

Oil prices traded slightly higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $83.85 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.2% to trade at $80.64 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.6%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.7%, while German DAX 30 dropped 0.7% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.7%. The UK’s unemployment rate fell to 4.5% during the three months to August, while average weekly earnings including bonuses rose 7.2% year-over-year. Wholesale prices in Germany surged 13.2% annually in September.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.94%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.25% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 1.58%, India’s BSE Sensex slipped 0.2%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded lower by 0.3%. Australia's new home sales increased 2.3% in September, while NAB business confidence index rose to 13 in September from revised -6 in August. Auto sales in China dipped 19.6% year-over-year to 2.07 million units in September. Producer prices in Japan increased 6.3% year-over-year in August.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Keybanc maintained Papa John's International, Inc. PZZA with an Overweight and raised the price target from $132 to $140.

Papa John's shares fell 0.4% to close at $124.10 on Monday.

Breaking News

• Arch Capital Group ACGL raised its buyback plan to $1.5 billion. The company also said it sees Q3 pre-tax net catastrophe losses of $330 million to $345 million.
• Moderna Inc MRNA does not plan to share the formula for making its COVID-19 vaccine, Chairman Noubar Afeyan said in a recent interview with the Associated Press.
• Relay Therapeutics Inc RLAY reported a $350 million common stock offering.
• Jon Gruden, head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, is resigning following news reports that he engaged in homophobic, misogynistic and racist email messaging.