A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower; Crude Oil Surges

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade. The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 32 points to 26,721, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded declined 4 points to 2,929.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 24.5 points to 7,526.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 2.27 percent to trade at $80.59 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.64 percent to trade at $71.94 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.45 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.18 percent and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.29 percent. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.23 percent, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.15 percent.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.82 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.62 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.5 percent and India’s BSE Sensex dipped 1.46 percent.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at RBC Capital upgraded United Natural Foods Inc UNFI from Underperform to Sector Perform and lowered the price target from $36 to $32.

United Natural Foods shares fell 8.51 percent to close at $30.97 on Friday.

Breaking News

• Sirius XM Holdings Inc SIRI announced plans to buy Pandora Media Inc P in a $3.5 billion all-stock deal.
• Randgold Resources Ltd. GOLD announced plans to merge with Barrick Gold Corp ABX in a deal worth $18.3 billion.
• AstraZeneca plc AZN disclosed that its Phase III DECLARE-TIMI 58 trial met its primary safety endpoint, met 1 efficacy endpoint and missed 1 efficacy endpoint.
• Amarin Corporation plc AMRN shares surged over 280 percent in pre-market trading following announcement that REDUCE-IT cardiovascular outcomes study of Vascepa capsules met primary endpoint.