A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Tumble Ahead Of Initial Jobless Claims Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded down in early pre-market trade, after closing mostly lower in the previous session as the Federal Reserve maintained its current fed funds target range of zero to 0.25%. Investors are awaiting earnings from Apogee Enterprises Inc APOG and Cantel Medical Corp. CMD. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts project claims declining to 850,000 for the September 12 week, from 884,000 in the previous week. Data on housing starts and building permits for August and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for September will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 260 points to 27,794 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 34 points to 3,355.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 94.50 points to 11,174.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 6,630,890 with around 196,800 deaths. India reported a total of at least 5,118,250 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 4,419,080 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1% to trade at $41.82 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1% to trade at $39.76 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories dropped 4.4 million barrels for the week ended September 11, the Energy Information Administration reported. 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 1.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1.1%. The French CAC 40 Index slipped 1.1%, while German DAX 30 fell 1.4% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 1%. New car registrations in the European Union dropped 18.9% year-over-year to 769,525 units in August.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.67%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.67% China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.41% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.6%. The Bank of Japan held its key short-term interest rate at -0.1%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan upgraded ZoomInfo Technologies Inc ZI from Neutral to Overweight.

ZoomInfo shares fell 4.6% to close at $31.11 on Wednesday.

Breaking News

• Moderna Inc MRNA reported a collaboration with Chiesi Group to discover and develop mRNA for pulmonary arterial hypertension. The company also announced a collaboration with Vertex to treat cystic fibrosis using gene editing.
• Herman Miller Inc. MLHR reported a strong rise in its earnings for its fiscal first quarter. The company’s sales also exceeded analysts’ estimates.
• Sinovac Biotech is planning to expand the clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine trial to children and adolescents later this month.
• AstraZeneca AZN agreed to acquire the preclinical oral PCSK9 inhibitor programme from Dogma Therapeutics.