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

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly higher in early pre-market trade, after recording a sharp decline in the previous session led by technology stocks. U.S. jobs report for August is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to rise 1.400 million in August, versus a gain of 1.763 million in July. The unemployment rate is likely to drop to 9.8% from July's reading of 10.2%.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 142 points to 28,493 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 13.50 points to 3,475. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 37.75 points to 11,762.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 6,150,990 with around 186,790 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 4,041,630 cases, while India reported a total of at least 3,936,740 confirmed cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.3% to trade at $ 44.22 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $41.59 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.5%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.5%, while German DAX 30 rose 0.2% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6%. German manufacturing orders increased for the third straight month, rising 2.8% in July. Construction activity in the Eurozone declined last month, with the IHS Markit construction PMI declining to 47.8 in August versus 48.9 in July.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.11%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.25% China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.87% and India’s BSE Sensex slipped 1.1%. The People's Bank of China reported injection of CNY 100 billion into the country’s markets.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded The Michaels Companies, Inc. MIK from Neutral to Outperform and raised the price target from $13 to $15.

Michaels Companies shares rose 2.8% to $9.97 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Broadcom Inc AVGO reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter and issued a strong sales outlook for the fourth quarter.
• Yum China Holdings Inc YUMC raised $2.2 billion in its secondary listing in Hong Kong at $53.16 (HKD 412) per share, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
• Kimberly Clark Corp KMB agreed to acquire Softex Indonesia for $1.2 billion in cash.
• Yext Inc YEXT posted a narrower-than-expected loss for its second quarter and issued upbeat earnings forecast for the current quarter.