A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Higher; Crude Oil Surges Over 1%

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones tumbled 100 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from ProPhase Labs, Inc. PRPH and The Honest Company, Inc. HNST.

Data on import and export prices for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for May is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 11:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Check out our premarket coverage here

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 191 points to 31,843.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 35.50 points to 3,962.75. Futures for the Nasdaq index climbed 173.75 points to 12,121.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.5% to trade at $109.04 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1.4% to trade at $107.61 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 84,066,370 with around 1,026,100 deaths. India reported a total of at least 43,116,600 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 30,639,130 cases.

Check out this: Apple And 3 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 1.3%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.5% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 1.1%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 1.5%, while German DAX gained 1.3%. Industrial production in the Eurozone dropped 1.8% in March. Spain’s annual inflation eased to 8.3% in April from around 40-year high of 9.8% in March, while annual inflation rate in France was confirmed at 4.8%.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.64%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 2.68% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.96%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.9% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.3%. Hong Kong's economy GDP contracted 4.0% year-over-year in the first quarter. Total passenger vehicles sales in India dipped 10% to 251,581 units in April. Australia's new home sales fell by 1.2% in April.

Broker Recommendation

Piper Sandler upgraded First Solar, Inc. FSLR from Neutral to Overweight and raised the price target from $80 to $90.

First Solar shares rose 4.8% to $64.36 in pre-market trading.

Check out this: Executives Buy Around $85M Of 4 Stocks

Breaking News

• Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter on Thursday.
• Affirm Holdings, Inc. AFRM reported upbeat results for its third quarter and raised its revenue forecast for the fiscal year. The company also announced a multi-year extension of its partnership in the U.S. with Shopify.
• After running the hard mile to mobilize finances for his Twitter Inc. TWTR buy, Elon Musk said early Friday the deal is on hold. Musk tweeted that the deal is temporarily on hold, and the reason apparently is the discord over spam/fake accounts calculation.
• Toast, Inc. TOST reported upbeat revenue for its first quarter and raised it FY22 sales guidance.

Check out other breaking news here