A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Following Wednesday's Sell-Off

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones dipped more than 1,150 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. BJ, Kohl's Corporation KSS and Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for May will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on existing home sales for April and index of leading economic indicators for April will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 325 points to 31,115.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 45.75 points to 3,877.00. Futures for the Nasdaq index fell 167.75 points to 11,767.75.

Oil prices traded slightly higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $109.75 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.1% to trade at $109.69 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’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 84,692,700 with around 1,028,010 deaths. India reported a total of at least 43,129,560 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 30,741,810 cases.

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A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 1.6%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.7% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.1%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 1.8%, while German DAX dropped 1.9%. The Eurozone current account surplus shrank to EUR 8.7 billion in March from EUR 39.7 billion in the year-ago month.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.89%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 2.64% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.36%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex dipped 2.4%. Australia's unemployment rate came in unchanged at 3.9% in April. Private-sector machinery orders in Japan increased 7.1% from a month ago in March. Japan posted a trade deficit of JPY 839.2 billion in April, with imports to the country surging 28.2% year-over-year to a new record high of JPY 8,915.4 billion.

Broker Recommendation

Stifel downgraded Target Corporation TGT from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $270 to $185.

Target shares fell 1.9% to $158.50 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed estimates. The company also issued weak Q4 and FY22 earnings guidance.
• Tesla Inc TSLA expanded access to its supercharger network to all electric cars in select locations in the United Kingdom and Europe, two months after making the service available in the Netherlands.
• Bath & Body Works, Inc. BBWI reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter, but lowered its FY22 earnings guidance.
• South Korea has revived the ‘Yeouido Grim Reaper’ financial crimes task force to investigate the collapse of Terra’s LUNA/USD stablecoin TerraUSD UST/USD.

Check out other breaking news here