Benzinga | Oct 22, 2020 06:02AM EDT

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Fall; Tesla Beats Q3 Estimates

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade as investors are awaiting earnings from AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC). Wall Street closed lower in the prior session no end in sight for U.S. stimulus negotiations.

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while data on existing home sales and the index of leading economic indicators for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Kansas City Fed's manufacturing index for October will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin is set to speak at 1:10 p.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly will speak at 1:10 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 91 points to 28,043 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures traded fell 11 points to 3,421.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 37.50 points to 11,653.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 8,338,090 with around 222,210 deaths. India reported a total of at least 7,706,940 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 5,298,770 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.3% to trade at $41.86 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.4% to trade at $40.17 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories dropped 1 million barrels for the week ended October 16, 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 after closing mixed in the previous session. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.8% and STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.6%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.6%, while German DAX 30 declined 0.7% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.3%. Germany's consumer confidence index for November declined to -3.1, versus a consensus of -2.8, while French October's manufacturing climate indicator declined to 93, missing the consensus of 96.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.7%, China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.38%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.13% and India's BSE Sensex fell 0.7%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 is trading lower by 0.29%. Consumer prices in Hong Kong declined 2.2% year-on-year in September versus a 0.4% dropin the previous month.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded Peloton Interactive, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTON) from Buy to Neutral.

Peloton Interactive shares fell 4.3% to $118.90 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

* Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter on Wednesday.

* CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) reported upbeat earnings for its third quarter, while sales missed views. The company also announced it added $5 billion to its buyback program.

* Cybersecurity company McAfee Corp, on Wednesday, announced it is pricing 37 million class A common stock shares in its initial public offering at $20 per share.

* Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter.