A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of GDP Report - AAR (NYSE:AIR), BlackBerry (NY

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones jumped around 560 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from CarMax, Inc. (NYSE:KMX), Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) and Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX).

Data on Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter, Chicago Fed National Activity Index for November and corporate profits for the third quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. US GDP is expected to grow 2.1% in the third quarter. Data on existing home sales and Conference Board’s consumer confidence index will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 32 points to 35,349.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 9 points to 4,631.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 54.75 points to 15,925.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 52,253,840 with around 830,990 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,758,480 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 22,219,470 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $74.25 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $71.44 a barrel. The American Petroleum Institute, late Tuesday, said crude-oil inventories dropped 3.670 million barrels last week. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% while German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. The British economy grew 1.1% on quarter during the three months to September. Business investment in the UK dropped 2.5% quarter-over-quarter during the July-September period, while current account deficit widened to GBP 24.4 billion in the third quarter. Spain's producer price inflation increased to an all-time high of 33.1% year-over-year in November

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.16%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.57% and China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.07%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1%, while India’s BSE Sensex climbed 1.1%. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Economic Index in Australia increased 0.12% year-over-year in November.

Broker Recommendation

Stifel upgraded Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) from Hold to Buy and announced a $165 price target.

Darden shares rose 1.5% to $145.10 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here

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