A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones climbed 300 points in the previous session following a massive sell-off on Wednesday. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Caterpillar Inc. CAT, Honeywell International Inc. HON and Eli Lilly And Co LLY and Chevron Corporation CVX.

The employment cost index and data on personal income and outlays will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Chicago PMI for January is scheduled for release at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index and the pending home sales index will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 1:00 p.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly will speak at 4:25 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 249 points to 30,258.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded dropped 34 points to 3,745.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dipped 146.75 points to 13,039.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 25,766,730 with around 433,190 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,720,040 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 0,058,680 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $55.42 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.3% to trade at $52.51 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 lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.9% and STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.9%. The French CAC 40 Index dropped 1%, German DAX 30 dropped 0.9% while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.8%. The German economy increased 0.1% on quarter during the final three months of 2020, while unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in December. Spain's GDP expanded by 0.4% on quarter. French industrial producer prices rose 0.8% in December, while GDP contracted 1.3% quarter-on-quarter.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.89%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.63% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dipped 0.94%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.3%. Hong Kong’s economy shrank 3% year-over-year during the last three months of 2020. Japan’s consumer confidence index fell to 29.6 in January, while housing starts declined 9.0% year-on-year in December. Industrial output in Japan dropped 1.6% in December, while unemployment rate came in unchanged at 2.9%.

Broker Recommendation

JP Morgan upgraded Motorola Solutions Inc MSI from Underweight to Neutral and raised the price target from $162 to $171.

Motorola Solutions shares fell 0.9% to close at $169.83 on Thursday.

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Breaking News

• Visa Inc V reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter and disclosed a new $8 billion buyback plan.
• Shares of GameStop Corp. GME and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC skyrocketed in the pre-market session as Robinhood said it would allow some buying of the stocks on Friday after sparking outrage over discontinuing purchases of GME, AMC, and high stocks seeing social media interest.
• Western Digital Corp WDC reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter. The company also said it expects Q3 adjusted earnings of $0.55 to $0.75 per share on sales of $3.85 billion to $4.05 billion.
• Johnson Controls International PLC JCI reported upbeat results for its first quarter.

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