A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain; All Eyes On Jobs Report

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from PPL Corporation PPL, Exelon Corporation EXC and Lear Corporation LEA. Data on nonfarm payrolls and unemployment rate for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on wholesale inventories for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The U.S. is now the 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 1,256,970 with around 75,670 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 221,440 cases, while Italy reported a total of at least 215,850 confirmed cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 241 points to 24,084 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 28.75 points to 2,908.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 83.50 points to 9,191.25.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.9% to trade at $30.01 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 3.4% to trade at $24.36 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the recent week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.3%, STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.6% and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.7%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 1.4%, while French CAC 40 Index rose 0.8%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 2.56%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.04%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.83% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.6%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI from Neutral to Underweight and lowered the price target from $168 to $130.

Motorola Solutions shares fell 9.6% to $123.17 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Uber Technologies Inc UBER reported a Q1 loss of $2.94 billion, versus a year-ago loss of $1.01 billion. However, the company’s sales exceeded expectations.
• Booking Holdings Inc BKNG reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.
• Tesla Inc. TSLA on Thursday confirmed that its Shanghai Gigafactory is currently shut down for production, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on Friday.
• Herbalife Nutrition Ltd HLF reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.