A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down; All Eyes On Trump's News Conference On China

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of President Donald Trump’s news conference on U.S.-China relations. Data on U.S. international trade in goods, personal income, consumer spending and wholesale inventories for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Chicago PMI for May is scheduled for release at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for May will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to speak at 11:00 a.m. ET.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world. Total coronavirus cases in the U.S. exceeded 1,721,920 with around 101,620 deaths. Russia reported a total of at least 387,620 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 438,230 cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 126 points to 25,331 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 13.35 points to 3,024.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 43 points to 9,417.25.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 2.7% to trade at $35.06 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 3.3% to trade at $32.60 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.3%, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1.2% and German DAX 30 index dropping 1.4%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 1%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 1.2%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.18%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.74%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.22% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.7%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded DXC Technology Company DXC from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $25 to $17.

DXC Technology shares fell 5.3% to $15.70 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Big Lots, Inc BIG reported Q1 earnings of $1.26 per share on revenue of $1.439 billion.
• Costco Wholesale Corporation COST reported weaker-than-expected results for its third quarter. The company’s e-commerce sales jumped 64.5% during the quarter.
• Marvell Technology Group Ltd. MRVL reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter.
• salesforce.com, inc. CRM reported upbeat results for its first quarter, but issued weak guidance for the second quarter and FY21.