A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down; Dow Futures Fall Over 300 Points

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN, Performance Food Group Company PFGC, Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated PEG and American International Group, Inc. AIG. Data on motor vehicle sales for April will be released today. Data on factory orders for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The U.S. is the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and deaths around the world. Total COVID-19 cases in the U.S. exceeded 1,158,040 with around 67,680 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 217,460 cases, while Italy reported a total of at least 210,710 confirmed cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 328 points to 23,291 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 34.70 points to 2,787.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 86.50 points to 8,631.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 2.6% to trade at $25.76 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 5.4% to trade at $18.71 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 2.4%, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 2% and German DAX 30 index dropping 2.9%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.1%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 3.5%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell 2.84%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 4.27%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.33% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 5.2%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Bernstein downgraded Cigna Corporation CI from Outperform to Market Perform.

Cigna shares fell 4.4% to close at $187.09 on Friday.

Breaking News

• Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD disclosed that its remdesivir drug has been granted the FDA emergency use for the treatment of the coronavirus. The company’s CEO Daniel O'Day told CBS on Sunday that its remdesivir drug will be shipped for novel coronavirus patients starting this week.
• Private equity firm Silver Lake announced plans to invest $748.3 million in Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd's digital arm Jio Platforms,.
• Intel Corporation INTC is nearing a deal to acquire Isreali urban transit startup Moovit for around $1 billion, TechCrunch reported Sunday.
• KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. KLXE and Quintana Energy Services Inc. QES agreed to combine in an all-stock merger deal.