A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of Jobless Claims Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade after the Nasdaq added 100 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Hormel Foods Corporation HRL, Broadcom Inc. AVGO and Costco Wholesale Corporation COST.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect jobless claims rising slightly to 223,000 for the December 4 week, compared to 222,000 in the previous week. Data on wholesale inventories for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 61 points to 35,685.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 8.75 points to 4,690.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 34.25 points to 16,358.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 50,422,410 with around 813,900 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,666,240 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 22,167,780 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.5% to trade at $75.46 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.3% to trade at $72.16 a barrel. US stocks of crude oil fell by 0.24 million barrels in the latest week, the Energy Information Administration said. 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 higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% while German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. German trade surplus shrank to EUR 12.8 billion in October from EUR 19.7 billion in the year-ago period. Imports climbed 17.3% to a record high of EUR 108.5 billion. Germany's current account surplus narrowed to EUR 15.4 billion in October from EUR 24.4 billion.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.47%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.08% and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.98%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3%, while India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.3%. China's annual inflation rate accelerated to 2.3% in November from 1.5% in the previous month, while annual producer inflation eased to 12.9% from 13.5%.

Broker Recommendation

JP Morgan upgraded Phillips 66 PSX from Neutral to Overweight and raised the price target from $83 to $93.

Phillips 66 shares rose 0.8% to $72.43 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• RH RH reported upbeat results for its third quarter and lifted the low end of its FY21 sales forecast.
• Apple Inc AAPL does not have to make forced changes by Thursday to its App Store as it has won a reprieve from the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case filed by “Fortnite” maker Epic Games.
• GameStop Corp. GME reported a wider-than-expected loss for its fiscal third quarter on Wednesday. However, the company’s quarterly sales came in above analysts’ estimates.
• Cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp said Wednesday it has added support for Shiba Inu SHIB/USD and three other cryptocurrencies on its platform.

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