A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down; Jobless Claims Report In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, after posting a strong rise in the prior session. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from JM Smucker Inc. SJM, Michaels Companies Inc. MIK, Ciena Inc. CIEN, Broadcom Inc. AVGO and Slack Technologies, Inc. WORK. The Challenger job-cut report for May is scheduled for release at 7:30 a.m. ET. Data on initial jobless claims for the recent week, international trade for April and nonfarm productivity for the first quarter will be released at 8:30 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 1,851,520 with around 107,170 deaths. Russia reported a total of at least 440,530 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 584,010 cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 153 points to 26,075 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 18.20 points to 3,099.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 29.75 points to 9,655.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $39.54 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.2% to trade at $36.85 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 lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.7% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.5%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.1%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.3% and German DAX 30 dropped 0.5%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.36%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.17%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.14% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.4%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Raymond James downgraded Planet Fitness Inc PLNT from Outperform to Market Perform.

Planet Fitness shares fell 2.1% to $75.58 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• ZoomInfo on Wednesday raised $935 million in its initial public offering. The business database provider sold 44.5 million shares priced at $21 each, as earlier reported by the Financial Times.
• Zuora Inc ZUO reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter. Zuora said it now expects Q1 revenue of $72.5 million to $75 million in the quarter and non-GAAP net loss to be between 7 cents and 8 cents per share.
• U.K. car sales tumbled 89% year-over-year in May, the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders reported.
• Aileron Therapeutics Inc ALRN reported a proposed public offering of common stock.