A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Climb Ahead Of Earnings, Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade as the US and China agreed to continue with their Phase 1 trade agreement. Stocks gained sharply in the previous session after the FDA granted emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma.

Investors are awaiting earnings from Best Buy Co Inc BBY, Medtronic PLC MDT, salesforce.com, inc. CRM, J M Smucker Co SJM and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE. The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index and the FHFA house price index for June will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for August, the Richmond Fed manufacturing index for August and data on new home sales for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 158 points to 28,397 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded gained 13 points to 3,440.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 26 points to 11,662.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 5,740,900 with around 177,270 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 3,622,860 cases, while India reported a total of at least 3,167,320 confirmed cases.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $45.32 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.1% to trade at $42.60 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

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European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.7% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.4%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.2%, while French CAC 40 Index gained 0.7% and German DAX 30 rose 0.6%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.35%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.26% China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.36% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.1%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at B. Riley FBR upgraded Crocs, Inc. CROX from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $35 to $46.

Crocs shares fell 0.1% to $39.32 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

Palo Alto Networks Inc PANW reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter and issued upbeat forecast for the first quarter. The company also announced plans to acquire The Crypsis Group For $265 million.
Aveva Group Plc announced plans to buy OSIsoft for $5 billion.
Portland General Electric Company POR lowered its FY20 earnings guidance, now expecting EPS of $1.30-$1.60, versus previous forecast of $2.20-$2.50.
British chipmaker Arm Ltd will not spin off two of its Internet of Things units to its parent company Softbank Group, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.