Benzinga | Aug 26, 2020 06:09AM EDT

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mixed; Fed Chair Powell's Speech In Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mixed in early pre-market trade, ahead of the Federal Reserve's Chairman Jerome Powell's speech later this week. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq surged to record highs in the previous session after the US and Chinese officials agreed to continue with their Phase 1 trade agreement.

Investors are awaiting earnings from Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE:DKS), Chico's FAS Inc. (NYSE:CHS), Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) and NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP). Data on durable goods orders for July will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 10:00 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly will speak at 3:25 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 25 points to 28,168 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures traded gained 2.50 points to 3,445.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 39.75 points to 11,766.00.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 5,779,370 with around 178,520 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 3,669,990 cases, while India reported a total of at least 3,234,470 confirmed cases.

Oil prices traded mixed as Brent crude futures rose 0.1% to trade at $46.34 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.1% to trade at $43.33 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 mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.2%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 0.2%, while French CAC 40 Index gained 0.1% and German DAX 30 rose 0.3%.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.03%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.02% China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.3% and India's BSE Sensex rose 0.3%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded Nio Inc - ADR (NYSE:NIO) from Equal-Weight to Overweight and raised the price target from $12 to $20.5.

NIO shares fell 0.2% to $17.80 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

* salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE:CRM) reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and also issued upbeat guidance for FY21. Salesforce stock was also added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

* Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) reported upbeat results for its third quarter and issued a strong earnings forecast for FY20.

* BigCommerce Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BIGC) shares surged around 37% on Tuesday as the company announced a partnership with social media behemoth Facebook Inc. The company's stock also jumped 4.8% in pre-market trading.

* Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) reported stronger-than-expected results for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.