A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Following Friday's Rally; Senate Passes $1.9 Trillion Covid-19 Relief Bill

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones surged more than 570 points in the previous session following better-than-expected jobs data. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note surpassed the 1.6% mark after the US Senate cleared a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill on Saturday. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Casey's General Stores Inc CASY and Stitch Fix Inc SFIX.

Data on wholesale inventories for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Analysts expect wholesale inventories rising 1.3% in January.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 69 points to 31,396.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 27.25 points at 3,811.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 222.75 points to 12,441.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 28,999,260 with around 525,030 deaths. India reported a total of at least 11,229,390 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 11,019,340 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.8% to trade at $69.94 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.8% to trade at $66.64 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 1 to 310 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 1.2% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.9%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.7%, German DAX 30 gained 0.9% while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.6%. Spain's industrial production dropped 2.2% year-over-year in January, while industrial production in Germany declined 2.5% percent month-over-month for January.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.42%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 2.30% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.92%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%, while India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.6%. Japan’s index of leading economic indicators rose to 99.7 in January from a revised 97.7 a month ago, while index of coincident economic indicators rose to 91.7 in January. Japanese current account surplus fell slightly to JPY 0.65 trillion in January versus JPY 0.66 trillion in the year-ago period. Exports from China jumped 60.6% year-over-year to $468.87 billion in January-February, while imports climbed 22.2% year-over-year to $365.62 billion.

Broker Recommendation

KeyBanc upgraded The Trade Desk, Inc. TTD from Sector Weight to Overweight and announced an $851 price target..

Trade Desk shares fell 1.8% to $642.20 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• General Electric Company GE is nearing a deal to combine its aircraft-leasing business with AerCap Holdings N.V. AER in a transaction valued at more than $30 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
• Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said over the weekend that an updated version of the upcoming Cybertruck will be unveiled in the next quarter.
• The FDA granted accelerated approval to Gilead Sciences Inc's (NASDAQ: GILD) Kite Pharma's 'Yescarta' (axicabtagene ciloleucel) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL) after two or more lines of systemic therapy.
• Apple Inc. AAPL discontinued the iMac Pro and removed all build-to-order configurations for the product. The only iMac Pro model now available for purchase is the $4,999 base configuration that will be available till supplies last, according to a report by 9to5Mac.

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