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

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, after recording gains in the prior session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from DISH Network Corp DISH, Ventas, Inc. VTR and Magna International Inc. MGA. U.S. jobs report for July is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on wholesale inventories for June will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 4,883,650 with around 160,100 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 2,912,210 cases, while India reported a total of at least 2,027,070 confirmed cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 118 points to 27,167 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 12.80 points to 3,331.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 49.75 points to 11,211.50.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.5% to trade at $44.86 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $41.68 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 mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.7% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.1%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.1%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 0.4% and German DAX 30 slipped 0.1%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.39%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.6% China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.96% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.2%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Stifel downgraded The Manitowoc Company, Inc. MTW from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $11.5 to $11.

Manitowoc shares fell 10.5% to close at $10.03 on Thursday.

Breaking News

• T-Mobile Us Inc TMUS reported better-than-expected earnings for its second quarter and said it had 98.3 million total customers at the end of the quarter. The company also claimed it had become the second-largest cellular carrier in the US, ahead of AT&T Inc..
• Booking Holdings Inc BKNG reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its second quarter, while sales exceeded estimates.
• Uber Technologies Inc UBER reported a wider-than-expected loss for the second quarter, while sales surpassed estimates. Bookings also declined 35% year-over-year during the quarter..
• Microsoft Corporation MSFT is looking to buy all of TikTok’s global operations, and not just in four countries as previously indicated, according to a Financial Times report Thursday.