Benzinga | Dec 8, 2020 06:00AM EST

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Down On Stimulus Uncertainty

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade amid uncertainty over the COVID-19 relief bill. A member of a United States Food and Drug Administration committee on vaccines said that the agency could issue an emergency authorization for Pfizer Inc's (NYSE:PFE) COVID-19 vaccine as early as Friday. Investors are awaiting earnings from AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO), G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GIII) and Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO).

The NFIB small business optimism index for November is scheduled for release at 6:00 a.m. ET, while data on nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs for the third quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 76 points to 29,981.00 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures traded fell 12.50 points to 3,678.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 4 points to 12,592.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 14,954,330 with around 283,740 deaths. India reported a total of at least 9,703,770 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 6,623,910 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.4% to trade at $48.58 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.4% to trade at $45.56 a barrel. The API's report on crude oil stocks will be released later during the day.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mixed today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.2% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index dropped 0.1%, while German DAX 30 gained 0.1% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.2%. French payroll employment in the private sector rose 1.6% in the third quarter versus a preliminary estimate of 1.8% increase.

Asian markets traded mixed today. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.3%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.19%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.76% and India's BSE Sensex rose 0.5%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded higher by 0.2%. Australian house price index increased 0.8% during the three months to September, versus a 1.8% decline in the prior period. Japan's economy expanded by an annualised 22.9% during the July to September period, while current account surplus increased to JPY 2145 billion in October.



Broker Recommendation

Analysts at KeyBanc upgraded ON Semiconductor Corp (NASDAQ:ON) from Sector Weight to Overweight and announced a $37 price target.

ON Semiconductor shares rose 4% to $31.79 in pre-market trading.



Breaking News

* Toll Brothers Inc (NYSE:TOL) reported upbeat results for its fourth quarter on Monday. The company said it expects FY21 deliveries between 9,600 and 10,200 homes with an average price between $790,000 and $810,000.

* Casey's General Stores Inc (NASDAQ:CASY) reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and raised its quarterly dividend from $0.32 to $0.34 per share.

* Pfizer told the outgoing Donald Trump administration that it cannot supply a considerable amount of additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the United States until late June because other countries have hastened to secure the supply, the Washington Post reported Monday.

* MicroStrategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) announced plans to offer $400 million in convertible senior notes and plans to invest all the raised capital in Bitcoin.