A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain; Earnings, GDP Data In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade as investors are awaiting earnings from Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Facebook, Inc. FB, Apple Inc. AAPL, Alphabet Inc GOOGL and Twitter Inc TWTR. Wall Street recorded massive losses in the prior session on rising coronavirus fears.

Data on Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. GDP is likely to grow 30.9% in the third quarter. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while pending home sales report for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 149 points to 26,558 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 26 points to 3,289.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 133 points to 11,265.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 8,858,080 with around 227,700 deaths. India reported a total of at least 8,040,200 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 5,468,270 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 2.5% to trade at $38.66 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 2.6% to trade at $36.43 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories increased 4.3 million barrels for the week ended October 23, the EIA reported Wednesday. 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 mostly higher today, after recording sharp losses in the prior session. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.5% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.5%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.3%, while German DAX 30 gained 0.8% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5%. German unemployment rate came in unchanged at 4.5% in September from the previous month.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.37%, China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.11%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.49% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.4%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded lower by 1.6%. Bank of Japan kept the interest rate unchanged at -0.10%, while the country’s retail sales fell 8.7% year-over-year in October.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded First Solar, Inc. FSLR from Overweight to Neutral.

First Solar shares fell 0.9% to $92.50 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Ford Motor Company F reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter on Wednesday.
• Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc REGN disclosed that its antibody cocktail for COVID-19 reduced viral load and need for medical attention.
• Pinterest Inc PINS reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter on Wednesday.
• Marvell Technology Group Ltd's MRVL talks to acquire chipmaker Inphi Corporation IPHI for $10 billion are nearing a conclusion, Bloomberg reported.