U.S. Stock Futures Higher Ahead Of Bank Earnings, Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade on Thursday after closing mixed in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Citigroup Inc. C, Wells Fargo & Company WFC and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated UNH.

Data on retail sales for June, Empire State manufacturing index for July, import and export prices for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for June will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while data on business inventories for May and University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 8:45 a.m. ET.

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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 90 points to 30,694.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 11.50 points to 3,804.75. Futures for the Nasdaq index rose 36.75 points to 11,834.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.7% to trade at $99.79 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $96.00 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.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 91,060,220 with around 1,048,230 deaths. India reported a total of at least 43,710,020 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 33,142,150 cases.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.9%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.7%, while German DAX rose 1.7%. The Eurozone reported a trade gap of EUR 26.3 in May, versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 12.0 billion. Passenger car registrations in the European Union dipped 15.4% year-over-year to 886,510 units in June. The annual inflation rate in Italy climbed 8% year-over-year in June, the highest since January 1986.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.54%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.64% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.2%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7%, while India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.4%. China's retail trade unexpectedly climbed by 3.1% year-over-year in June, while the country’s economy contracted by 2.6% on quarter during the three months to June. China's industrial production rose by 3.9% year-over-year in June, while average new home prices slipped by 0.5% year-over-year in June.

Broker Recommendation

Goldman Sachs downgraded Yelp Inc. YELP from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $49 to $33.

Yelp shares fell 0.5% to close at $26.82 on Thursday.

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Breaking News

• Pinterest Inc PINS shares jumped 14% in pre-market trading following a WSJ report suggesting Elliott Management has been in discussions with the company.
• Private space company SpaceX, owned by Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk, has successfully launched its 25th commercial resupply services (CRS) mission for NASA.
• NexImmune, Inc. NEXI received Investigational New Drug clearance from the FDA for its first cellular therapy product candidate NEXI-003 addressing solid tumors.
• Volkswagen AG's VWAGY PowerCo global battery manufacturing business, which it plans to plan to spin-off in an initial public offering in 2023, is facing the impact of supply chain challenges, Bloomberg reported.

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