A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Initial Jobless Claims, Fed Speakers

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, after falling sharply in the previous session. Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. After declining to 860,000 in the prior week, jobless claims are projected to rise to 880,000 in the recent week. Data on new home sales for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Kansas City Fed's manufacturing index for September will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Investors are awaiting earnings from Accenture Plc ACN, Costco Wholesale Corporation COST and CarMax, Inc KMX. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 8:50 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard is set to speak at 12:00 p.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic and Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 62 points to 26,623 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 8 points to 3,223.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 53.50 points to 10,775.50.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 6,934,200 with around 201,900 deaths. India reported a total of at least 5,732,510 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 4,591,360 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.7% to trade at $41.95 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.8% to trade at $39.62 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories dropped 1.6 million barrels for the week ended September 18, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks in underground storage is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.9%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 1.3%, while German DAX 30 fell 0.5% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.6%. France reported further improvement in its business confidence, with the country’s manufacturing industry climate indicator rising for the fifth month to 96 points in September versus a revised reading of 92 in August.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.11%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.82% China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.72% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 2.2%. Hong Kong’s trade deficit shrank sharply to HKD 14.6 billion in August compared to HKD 29.8 billion in the year-ago period.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at KeyBanc upgraded EnPro Industries, Inc. NPO from Sector Weight to Overweight and announced a $68 price target.

EnPro shares rose 0.5% to $54.83 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

• HB Fuller Co FUL reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter on Wednesday.
• ByteDance has applied for an export license from China's regulator, as it moves ahead with a deal involving Oracle Corporation ORCL and Walmart Inc WMT taking 12.5% and 7.5% stake respectively in subsidiary TikTok Global's U.S. operations, CNBC reported.
• GoodRx Holdings Inc. GDRX shares jumped over 53% on the first day of trading after its initial public offering. The digital healthcare platform priced 34.6 million shares at $33 each in the IPO.
• SoftBank Group Corp SFTBY-owned WeWork is selling a majority of the stake in its Chinese unit to existing investors, Reuters reported.