A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Drop On Last Day Of Historic November

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly lower in early pre-market trade after recording gains in the previous session. The Dow Jones is on track to record its best monthly performance since January 1987 in November driven by positive Covid-19 vaccine development news.

The Chicago PMI for November is scheduled for release at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the pending home sales index for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for November is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 142 points to 29,732.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 12.25 points to 3,624.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 1.50 points to 12,256.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 13,384,650 with around 266,870 deaths. India reported a total of at least 9,431,690 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 6,314,740 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 2% to trade at $47.30 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1.7% to trade at $44.76 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mixed today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.3%, while German DAX 30 gained 0.1% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3%. Spanish national consumer price index declined 0.8% on an annual basis in November.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.79%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.49%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 2.06% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.3%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded lower by 1.3%. China’s manufacturing PMI expanded for the ninth straight month, climbing to 52.1 in November from 51.4 a month ago, while services PMI jumped to 56.4 from 56.2. Retail sales in Japan increased 6.4% year-on-year in October, versus a 8.7% decline a month ago.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at KeyBanc initiated coverage on SciPlay Corporation (NASDAQ: SCPL) with an Overweight rating and announced price target of $18..

SciPlay shares rose 0.1% to close at $14.65 on Friday.

Breaking News

• S&P Global Inc. (NYSE: SPGI) and IHS Markit Ltd (NYSE: INFO) are nearing a merger deal worth around $44 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA)-backed Ant Group is unlikely to be able to hold its suspended initial public offering before 2022, Bloomberg reported.
• HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HSBC) is considering a complete exit from retail banking operations in the U.S., according to the Financial Times.
• Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) has partnered with Sony Corporation’s (NYSE: SNE) Indian unit to bring video-on-demand content of India’s ongoing cricket tour of Australia..