A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Edge Lower Ahead Of GDP, Jobless Claims Data - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA), Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU)

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly lower in early pre-market trade after the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.5% in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA), Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR), Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) and Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG).

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week and Gross Domestic Product for the first quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The pending home sales index for April is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for May will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7 points to 32,069.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 5.25 points to 3,971.50. Futures for the Nasdaq index dropped 53.25 points to 11,889.00.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $111.53 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.6% to trade at $111.03 a barrel. US crude oil inventories declined by 1.019 million barrels in the week ended May 20th, the Energy Information Administration said. The EIA’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage will be released at 10:30 a.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 85,440,340 with around 1,030,410 deaths. India reported a total of at least 43,144,820 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 30,846,600 cases.

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A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.6%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.4%, while German DAX gained 0.4%. Manufacturing confidence in Italy fell to 109.3 in May, recording the lowest reading since April 2021, while consumer confidence rose to 102.7, from a 17-month low of 100 in April. UK’s car production declined 11.3% from a year ago to 60,554 units in April.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.27%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.27% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.50%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7% and India’s S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.7%. Hong Kong’s trade deficit increased to HKD 36.6 billion in April from HKD 31.8 billion in the year-ago period. Total new capital expenditure in Australia unexpectedly declined 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter.

Broker Recommendation

Morgan Stanley upgraded Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) from Equal-Weight to Overweight and lowered the price target from $339 to $303.

Lululemon shares rose 1.7% to $265.03 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) reported better-than-expected financial results for its first quarter, but issued guidance below analyst expectations. For the second quarter, Nvidia said it sees revenue of $8.1 billion, plus or minus 2%, versus the estimate of $8.45 billion.
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) posted upbeat results for its first quarter.
Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX) reported downbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales topped estimates. The company said it sees Q2 revenue of $244 million to $246 million and earnings of $0.27 to $0.28 per share.
Nio Inc (NYSE:NIO) will use Honeywell International Inc’s (NASDAQ:HON) refrigerant with ultra-low global warming potential for its recently launched ET7 sedan, CnEVpost reported on Thursday, citing the U.S. industrial company.