A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street; Crude Oil Down 4%

Author: Lisa Levin | December 20, 2021 06:48am

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones tumbled more than 500 points in the previous session. The Federal Reserve, last week, said it will be accelerating its monthly asset purchase tapering. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL), NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) and Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU).

The index of leading economic indicators for November is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET. The index might rise 0.8% in November, versus a 0.9% increase in the previous month.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 559 points to 34,693.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 74.75 points to 4,535.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dipped 260 points to 15,527.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 51,765,710 with around 827,320 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,746,830 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 22,213,760 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 4.2% to trade at $70.47 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 4.5% to trade at $70.47 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs gained by 4 to 475 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported Friday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 2.4% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 2.2%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 2.2%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.9% while German DAX 30 dipped 2.8%. The Eurozone current account surplus shrank to EUR 20.5 billion in October from EUR 31 billion in the year-ago period. The goods surplus, meanwhile, narrowed to EUR 17.8 billion from EUR 39 billion.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 2.13%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.93% and China’s Shanghai Composite declined 1.07%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 2.1%. The People's Bank of China redices its 1-year loan prime rate to 3.8% from 3.85% at the December fixing.

Broker Recommendation

Raymond James downgraded Bottomline Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:EPAY) from Outperform to Market Perform.

Bottomline Technologies shares rose 0.1% to $56.14 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here

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