A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Climb; Fed Meeting In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the state is on the path of a second full shutdown if the virus cases uptrend continues. Investors are awaiting earnings from MTS Systems Corporation MTSC and Nordson Corporation NDSN.

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today. The Empire State manufacturing index for December and data on import and export prices for November will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for November will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 159 points to 30,024.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 21.75 points to 3,668.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 53.75 points to 12,510.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 16,519,620 with around 300,480 deaths. India reported a total of at least 9,906,160 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 6,927,140 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $50.37 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $47.10 a barrel. The API’s report on crude inventories will be released later in the day.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index gained 0.8%, while German DAX 30 gained 0.6% and London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4%. London is witnessing rise in infected cases after the discovery of a new variant of coronavirus. Eurozone industrial production increased 2.1% in October, slightly better than expected .

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.17%, China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.06%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.69% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.02%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded lower by 0.4%. China’s industrial production grew 7%year-over-year in November, while November retail sales grew 5% year-over-year. The country’s unemployment rate declined to 5.2%, as expected.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Piper Sandler downgraded Pluralsight, Inc. PS from Overweight to Neutral and lowered the price target from $21 to $20.26.

Pluralsight shares rose 6.4% to close at $20.19 on Monday.

Breaking News

• Intevac, Inc. IVAC disclosed that it has received a $5 million EVA digital night-vision sensor contract.
• Apple Inc AAPL is planning to ramp up iPhone production by 30% on a year-over-year basis during the first half of next year, Reuters reported.
• Arvinas Inc ARVN reported a proposed offering of $250 million of common stock.
• Moderna Inc MRNA said documents related to its COVID-19 vaccine were targeted by hackers in an attack on the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Reuters reported Monday.