Benzinga | Aug 21, 2020 06:06AM EDT

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Flat Ahead Of Deere Earnings, PMI Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade, as investors are awaiting earnings from Deere & Company (NYSE:DE), Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) and Buckle Inc (NYSE:BKE). The flash composite Purchasing Managers' Index for August is scheduled for release at 9:45 a.m. ET, while data on existing home sales for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 5,575,380 with around 174,280 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 3,501,970 cases, while India reported a total of at least 2,905,820 confirmed cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10 points to 27,679 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures traded fell 0.30 point to 3,380.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 7.5 points to 11,484.75.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $44.62 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.2% to trade at $42.51 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.1% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.4%. The UK's FTSE index was trading higher by 0.1%, while French CAC 40 Index gained 0.3% and German DAX 30 rose 0.4%.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.17%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.3% China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.50% and India's BSE Sensex rose 0.6%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Daiwa Capital upgraded Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:UBER) from Neutral to Outperform and announced a $34 price target.

Uber shares rose 0.6% to $31.61 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

* Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) surprised investors, delivering a profit in the second quarter. The company's sales also exceeded analysts' estimates.

* Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), and its partner BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX), disclosed positive results for the Phase 1 trial of their second COVID-19 vaccine candidate, stating that the recent vaccine candidate had fewer side effects than their first one.

* Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter and issued an upbeat outlook.

* MobileIron, Inc. (NYSE:MOBL) is exploring a potential sale, Bloomberg reported.