A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Plunge Ahead Of Jobless Claims; Crude Oil Down Over 3%

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones tumbled over 1% in the previous session following the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Macy's Inc M, Estee Lauder Companies Inc EL, Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT, Kohl's Corporation KSS and Ross Stores, Inc. ROST.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect jobless claims declining to 360,000 in the August 14 week from 375,000 in the prior week. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for August is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the index of leading economic indicators for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 251 points to 34,636.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 28.75 points to 4,365.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 73.25 points to 14,776.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 37,155,120 with around 624,250 deaths. India reported a total of at least 32,285,850 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 20,457,890 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 3.1% to trade at $66.14 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 3.4% to trade at $63.21 a barrel. US crude oil inventories dropped 3.234 million barrels in the August 13th week, versus a 0.447 million drop in the prior period, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The EIA’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets


European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index dipped 2%. The French CAC 40 Index tumbled 2.8%, London’s FTSE 100 dipped 2.2% while German DAX 30 dropped 1.9%. The Eurozone’s current account surplus increased to EUR 24.0 billion in June compared to EUR 18.4 billion in the year-ago month. Spain's trade balance swung to a deficit of EUR 0.98 billion in June versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 1.48 billion.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 2.13%, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.57%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.3%. Australian jobless rate unexpectedly declined to 4.6% in July compared to 4.9% in June. The Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers in Japan surged to 33 during August versus 25 a month ago.


Broker Recommendation

Jefferies upgraded Bill.com Holdings, Inc. BILL from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $155 to $250.

Bill.com shares rose 4.1% to close at $204.92 on Wednesday.

Check out other major ratings here

 

Breaking News

  • Robinhood Markets Inc HOOD disclosed its earnings for the first time as a public company. The company’s total net revenues surged 131% to $565 million in the second quarter, while reporting a net loss of $502 million, versus net income of $58 million in the year-ago period. The company reported ARPU of $112, down from $115 year over year.
  • China’s CATL, a battery supplier to Tesla Inc TSLA and Nio Inc NIO, signed an agreement with the local government to build a manufacturing base in Shanghai, cnEVpost reported.
  • NVIDIA Corporation NVDA reported stronger-than-expected results for its second quarter.
  • Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, but issued weak profit forecast for the first quarter.

Check out other breaking news here

Date
ticker
name
Actual EPS
EPS Surprise
Actual Rev
Rev Surprise
Posted In: EarningsNewsEurozoneFuturesGlobalPre-Market OutlookMarketsA Peek Into The Markets
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...