A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Tumble Amid COVID-19 Jitters

Author: Lisa Levin | November 26, 2021 06:57am

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after a new COVID-19 variant was detected in South Africa. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) and BlueCity Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:BLCT).

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 800 points to 34,949.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 85.50 points to 4,613.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 193.75 points to 16,172.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 48,999,730 with around 798,550 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,555,430 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 22,055,600 cases.

Oil prices traded sharply lower as Brent crude futures fell 5.4% to trade at $76.56 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 6.5% to trade at $73.33 a barrel. US crude oil inventories climbed 1.017 million barrels in the week ending November 19, the EIA said Wednesday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 3.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 2.4%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 3.1%, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 2.6% while German DAX 30 declined 2.5%. Car production in the UK dropped 41.4% year-over-year to 64729 in October, while consumer confidence in Italy fell to 117.5 in November from 118.4 in the prior month. Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.1% year-over-year in October.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.53%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.67% and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.56%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 2.9%. The core consumer price index in Tokyo increased 0.3% from a year ago to 100 points in November. Retail sales in Australia increased by 4.9% month-over-month in October.

Broker Recommendation

Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on LianBio (NASDAQ:LIAN) with a Neutral rating and announced a price target of $18.58..

LianBio shares jumped 10.1% to close at $15.57 on Wednesday.

Check out other major ratings here

Breaking News

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) will spend up to $188 million to ramp up capacity at the Giga Shanghai and hire another 4,000 employees upon completion early next year, cnEVpost reported on Wednesday, citing a company report.
Global Cord Blood Corporation (NYSE:CO) reported that its revenue for the second quarter climbed 9.8% year-over-year to RMB313.7 million ($48.7 million). Net income attributable to shareholders, however, fell 4.3% to RMB125.7 million ($19.5 million) last quarter.
Selecta Biosciences (NASDAQ:SELB) disclosed that the FDA has issued clinical hold on its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of SEL-302 due to CMC related questions.
CVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:CVBF), the holding company for Citizens Business Bank, disclosed that Citizens received regulatory approvals to complete its merger with Suncrest Bank.