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

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade ahead of the highly-anticipated jobs report for April. Investors are awaiting earnings results fromLear Corporation LEA and American Axle & Mfg Hldgs AXL.

Analysts expect a rise of 938,000 for April nonfarm payrolls following March's increase of 916,000. The unemployment rate is projected to drop to 5.8% from 6%. Data on wholesale inventories for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while data on consumer credit for March will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36 points to 34,478.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 5.50 points at 4,199.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 24 points to 13,621.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 32,605,020 with around 580,060 deaths. India reported a total of at least 21,491,590 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 15,003,560 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.1% to trade at $68.02 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.1% to trade at $64.63 a barrel. US natural-gas supplies climbed 60 billion cubic feet last week, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday. 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 0.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.4%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.5% while German DAX 30 gained 1.1%. UK’s construction PMI slipped to 61.6 in April from the previous month's level of 61.7. Spain's industrial production surged 12.4% year-over-year in March, while retail sales in Italy declined 0.1% in March. French industrial production increased 0.8% in March, while trade gap increased to EUR 6.1 billion in March from a revised EUR 5.1 billion in February. Germany reported a current account surplus of EUR 30.2 billion in March versus a EUR 24.8 billion surplus in the year-ago month, while industrial production climbed 2.5% in March.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.1%, while China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.65%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.09%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3%, and India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.6%. Exports from China jumped 32.3% year-over-year to $263.92 billion in April, while imports increased 43.1% year-over-year to $221.07 billion. The Caixin Chinese general services PMI surged to a four-month high of 56.3 in April. The au Jibun Bank Japanese services PMI climbed to 49.5 in April versus March's reading of 48.3.

Broker Recommendation

Keybanc maintained Albemarle Corporation ALB with an Underweight and raised the price target from $107 to $117.

Albemarle shares rose 0.8% to $154.10 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Monster Beverage Corp MNST reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter on Thursday.
• Expedia Group Inc EXPE reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Thursday.
• Cigna Corporation CI reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter
• McKesson Corporation MCK posted upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter..

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