A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain Ahead Of Zoom Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Stocks recorded gains during the previous session, with the Dow Jones erasing losses for the year. Investors are awaiting earnings from Zoom Video Communications Inc ZM, Catalent Inc CTLT and ScanSource, Inc. SCSC. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for August will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 86 points to 28,697 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 12 points to 3,516.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 40.25 points to 11,032.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 5,997,160 with around 183,060 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 3,862,310 cases, while India reported a total of at least 3,621,240 confirmed cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.4% to trade at $46.46 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1% to trade at $43.39 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 3 to 180 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported on Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.5%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.9%, while German DAX 30 rose 0.6%. Consumer prices in Spain declined for a fifth consecutive month during August.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.12%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.96% China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.24% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 1.7%. Industrial production in Japan increased 8% in July, while the official NBS manufacturing PMI in China slipped to 51.0 in August from 51.1 in the prior month.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at KeyBanc downgraded Vail Resorts, Inc. MTN from Overweight to Sector Weight.

Vail Resorts shares rose 1% to close at $225.28 on Friday.

Breaking News

• AT&T Inc. T is eyeing the sale of half its stake in DirecTV, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
• Nestle S.A. subsidiary Nestle Health Sciences agreed to acquire Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc AIMT at an enterprise value of $2.6 billion.
• NIO Limited NIO priced its 88.5 million ADS offering at $17 per ADS.
• SoftBank Group Corp. SFTBY announced it was shedding 21.7% of its stake in telecom subsidiary SoftBank Corp.