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

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade ahead of the widely expected jobs report. US markets surged to fresh highs in the previous session after the US Congress formally confirmed Joe Biden as the next President.

US jobs report for December is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Nonfarm payrolls are projected to increase only 65,000 for December, following a 245,000 rise in the prior month. The unemployment rate is also expected to rise to 6.8% from 6.7%. Data on wholesale inventories for November will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while data on consumer credit for November will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida is set to speak at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 88 points to 31,030.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 10.75 points to 3,806.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 47 points to 12,975.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 21,579,580 with around 365,310 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,413,410 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 7,961,670 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.9% to trade at $54.85 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.7% to trade at $51.19 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.8%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.7%, German DAX 30 gained 1.2% while London's FTSE 100 gained 0.3%. The UK’s Halifax house price index increased 6% year-over-year in December, following a 7.6% rise in November. Germany’s trade surplus shrank to EUR 17.2 billion in November from EUR 18.5 billion in the year-ago period, while industrial production increased 0.9% month-over-month. French trade gap shrank to EUR 3.6 billion in November versus EUR 4.6 billion in October, while current account deficit narrowed to EUR 1.41 billion from EUR 3.79 billion. The country’s industrial production declined 0.9% in November.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 2.36%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.17%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.2% and India’s BSE Sensex rose 1.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7%. Japan’s index of leading economic indicators rose to 96.6 in November versus 94.3 in October, while index of coincident economic indicators dropped to 89.1 in November from 89.4. The country’s household spending increased 1.1% in November.

Broker Recommendation

KeyBanc upgraded Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co GT from Sector Weight to Overweight and announced a $14 price target.

Goodyear Tire shares rose 0.1% to $10.75 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• Pfizer Inc PFE/ BionNTech SE BNTX COVID-19 showed signs of working against a mutation found in two highly-contagious COVID-19 virus variants detected in the U.K. and South Africa in a laboratory study conducted by Pfizer.
• Micron Technology, Inc. MU reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter and issued a strong forecast for the current quarter.
• Boeing Co BA has agreed to pay a penalty of $2.5 billion to settle a criminal investigation with the U.S. Department of Justice.
• F5 Networks, Inc. FFIV announced plans to acquire Volterra. The company lifted sales forecast and also reaffirmed its commitment to $1 billion in share repurchases..