A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain, Jobless Claims In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Challenger job-cut report for March is scheduled for release at 7:30 a.m. ET. Data on international trade for February and initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on factory orders for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases around the world. Total COVID-19 cases in the U.S. exceeded 216,700 with around 5,100 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 104,100 cases, while Italy reported a total of at least 110,500 confirmed cases and 13,100 deaths.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 349 points to 21,089 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 38.75 points to 2,486.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 103.75 points to 7,542.50.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 10.3% to trade at $27.28 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 9.1% to trade at $22.15 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.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.9%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.2% and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.3%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.3%, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.4%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.37%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.84%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.69% and India’s BSE Sensex dropped 4.48%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Stifel upgraded Science Applications International Corporation SAIC from Hold to Buy and announced a $95 price target.

Science Applications shares fell 5% to close at $70.90 on Wednesday.

Breaking News

• PVH Corp PVH reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.
• Carnival Corporation CCL priced its 62.5 million share offering of common stock at $8 per share.
• InVitae Corp NVTA reported a $125 million common stock offering.
• Amazon.com Inc. AMZN is offering purchase and rent options in its Prime Video apps on certain Apple Inc. AAPL platforms starting Wednesday.