A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Plunge; Trump Gives 'Blessing' To TikTok-Oracle-Walmart Deal

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded sharply lower in early pre-market trade, after recording losses in the previous session. President Donald Trump agreed to let TikTok partner with Oracle Corp. as well as Walmart Inc. WMT as a means to avoiding a ban. Scrutiny of leaked Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed with the United States Department of Treasury revealed that many financial entities could have aided money launderers and criminals.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for August is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 583 points to 27,019 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 61.50 points to 3,254.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 202.50 points to 10,724.50.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 6,805,620 with around 199,510 deaths. India reported a total of at least 5,487,580 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 4,544,620 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 2.3% to trade at $42.17 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 2.6% to trade at $40.04 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 1 to 179 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 2.2% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 2.5%. The French CAC 40 Index slipped 2.7%, while German DAX 30 fell 2.9% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 3.1%. Spain reported a narrower trade deficit for July, with the trade gap shrinking to EUR 0.31 billion in July versus EUR 2.49 billion in the year-ago month.

In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 2.06% China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.63% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 2%. Consumer prices in Hong Kong declined for the second consecutive month, falling 0.4% year-over-year in August, versus a 2.3% decline in the earlier month.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Jefferies upgraded Scientific Games Corp (NASDAQ: SGMS) from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $20 to $50.

Scientific Games shares rose 6.8% to close at $32.96 on Friday.

Breaking News

• NTN Buzztime Inc NTN agreed to sell entertainment and advertising assets to eGames for $2 million in cash.
• AstraZeneca plc AZN disclosed that its cancer treatment drug Lynparza has been recommended for approval by the European Medicines Agency.
• Garrett Motion Inc GTX has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and proposed a $2.1 billion sale of its business to KPS Capital Partners, LP..
• aTyr Pharma, Inc. LIFE filed for sale of up to 3 million shares of its common stock by Aspire Capital Fund.