A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Higher; Apple, Amazon Earnings In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones tumbled over 260 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Apple Inc. AAPL, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Merck & Co., Inc. MRK, Caterpillar Inc. CAT and Starbucks Corporation SBUX.

Data on Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter and initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The pending home sales index for September is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for October will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 34 points to 35,423.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 6.75 points to 4,551.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 51 points to 15,638.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 46,597,000 with around 761,850 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,231,800 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,766,160 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $83.34 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $82.18 a barrel. US crude oil inventories climbed 4.267 million barrels in the week ending October 22, following a 0.431 million drop in the prior period, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The EIA’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.5% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4% while German DAX 30 dropped 0.3%. Manufacturing confidence in Italy rose to 114.9 in October from a revised 113.2 in September, while consumer confidence fell to 118.4 from 119.6. UK car production dipped 41.5% year-over-year to 67,149 in September. Spain's annual inflation rate surged to 5.5% in October from 4.0% a month ago, while unemployment rate declined to 14.57% in the third quarter from 15.26%. The unemployment rate in Germany came in unchanged at 3.4% in September.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.96%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.28% and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.23%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.25%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 1.4%. The Bank of Japan kept its key short-term interest rate unchanged at -0.1%, while retail sales in Japan dropped 0.6% year-overon-year in September. Australia's import prices increased 5.4% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter, while export prices rose by 6.2% on quarter.

Broker Recommendation

Keybanc maintained eBay Inc. EBAY with an Overweight and raised the price target from $80 to $90.

eBay shares fell 6% to $73.00 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Ford Motor Company F reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter. The company also announced plans to resume its quarterly dividend in the fourth quarter with a quarterly payout of 10 cents. Ford also plans to invest $40 billion to $45 billion between 2020 and 2025 on “strategic capital expenditures.”
• O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. ORLY reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter.
• eBay Inc EBAY posted upbeat results for its third quarter. However, the company said it sees Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.97 to $1.01 per share on sales of $2.57 billion to $2.62 billion.
• Spotify Technology SA SPOT CEO Daniel Ek said at the company’s third-quarter earnings conference call Wednesday that the streaming service had become the top podcast platform in the United States.

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