A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Flat Ahead Of Fed Minutes

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade. The Federal Open Market Committee will issue minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The U.S. is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases around the world. Total COVID-19 cases in the U.S. exceeded 399,900 with around 12,900 deaths. Spain confirmed a total of over 141,900 cases, while Italy reported a total of at least 135,500 confirmed cases and 17,100 deaths.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6 points to 22,485 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 2.5 points to 2,640. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 1.75 points to 8,014.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $31.93 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 3.6% to trade at $24.47 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.7%, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1.3% and German DAX 30 index dropping 1.2%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 1.7%, while French CAC 40 Index fell 2.1%.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 2.13%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.17%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.19% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.74%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Raymond James downgraded Extra Space Storage Inc. EXR from Market Perform to Underperform.

Extra Space Storage shares fell 2.4% to close at $97.47 on Tuesday.

Breaking News

• Tesla Inc TSLA announced plans to furlough all non-essential workers in the United States 4. The company also disclosed that all employees across the company will take temporary pay cuts that are expected to last until at least the end of June.
• Pinterest, Inc. PINS released preliminary financial results for the quarter ended March 31 and withdrew guidance for full-year 2020. The social photo-sharing network expects preliminary revenue for Q1 to be between $269 million to $272 million. Global monthly active users are expected to range between 365 million to 367 million.
• Levi Strauss & Co. LEVI reported stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter on Tuesday.
• GenMark Diagnostics, Inc. GNMK raised its sales guidance for 2020. GenMark said it now expects FY20 sales of $112 million to $122 million, up from earlier estimates of $100 million to $110 million.