A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Gain Ahead Of Zoom Earnings

Author: Lisa Levin | August 31, 2020 06:05am

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Stocks recorded gains during the previous session, with the Dow Jones erasing losses for the year. Investors are awaiting earnings from Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM), Catalent Inc (NYSE:CTLT) and ScanSource, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCSC). Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida is set to speak at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for August will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 86 points to 28,697 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 12 points to 3,516.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 40.25 points to 11,032.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 5,997,160 with around 183,060 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 3,862,310 cases, while India reported a total of at least 3,621,240 confirmed cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures rose 1.4% to trade at $46.46 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 1% to trade at $43.39 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs slipped by 3 to 180 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported on Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.5%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.9%, while German DAX 30 rose 0.6%. Consumer prices in Spain declined for a fifth consecutive month during August.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.12%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.96% China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.24% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 1.7%. Industrial production in Japan increased 8% in July, while the official NBS manufacturing PMI in China slipped to 51.0 in August from 51.1 in the prior month.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at KeyBanc downgraded Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:MTN) from Overweight to Sector Weight.

Vail Resorts shares rose 1% to close at $225.28 on Friday.

Breaking News

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is eyeing the sale of half its stake in DirecTV, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Nestle S.A. subsidiary Nestle Health Sciences agreed to acquire Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:AIMT) at an enterprise value of $2.6 billion.
NIO Limited (NYSE:NIO) priced its 88.5 million ADS offering at $17 per ADS.
SoftBank Group Corp. (OTC:SFTBY) announced it was shedding 21.7% of its stake in telecom subsidiary SoftBank Corp.