A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mostly Lower; Inflation Data In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly lower in early pre-market trade after the Nasdaq surged more than 2% in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from PepsiCo, Inc. PEP, The Coca-Cola Company KO, Twitter, Inc. TWTR and Kellogg Company K.

The Consumer Price Index for January is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Consumer prices, which rose 0.5% on a monthly basis in December, are expected to increase 0.5% again in January. Annual inflation rate is seen accelerating to 7.3% from 7%. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4 points to 35,645.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 10.25 points to 4,567.50. Futures for the Nasdaq index fell 48.50 points to 14,989.75.

Oil prices traded slightly higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $91.75 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.3% to trade at $89.90 a barrel. U.S. crude-oil inventories dropped 4.8 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The EIA’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 78,824,390 with around 935,920 deaths. India reported a total of at least 42,478,060 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 26,960,150 cases.

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A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.1%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.6% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.1%, while German DAX gained 0.4%.

Asian markets traded higher today. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.42%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.38% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.17%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3%, while India’s BSE SENSEX gained 0.9%. The Reserve Bank of India held its benchmark repo rate at 4% during its recent meeting. Australian building permits jumped 8.2% from a month ago to 17,698 units in December, while private house approvals fell 1.8% to 10,444 units. Producer prices in Japan surged 8.6% from a year ago in January.

Broker Recommendation

BMO Capital upgraded Crown Holdings, Inc. CCK from Market Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $110 to $140.

Crown Holdings shares rose 1.1% to close eat $115.25 on Wednesday.

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Breaking News

• The Walt Disney Company DIS reported stronger-than-expected financial results for its fiscal first quarter. Disney ended the quarter with 129.8 million subscribers for Disney+, up 37% year-over-year.
• Mattel, Inc. MAT reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and issued strong earnings forecast for the full year.
• Late Wednesday, South Carolina senators approved the use of medical marijuana in 28-15 vote, realizing Republican Senator Tom Davis's seven-year quest to pass the proposal, though the legislation still has some hurdles to jump before becoming law.
• Uber Technologies, Inc. UBER reported net income of $892 million for the fourth quarter, while sales exceeded views. The company also said it expects Q1 adjusted EBITDA to be between $100 million and $130 million.

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