Benzinga | Oct 12, 2021 06:08AM EDT

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mostly Flat Ahead Of Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones dropped 250 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST), AZZ Inc (NYSE:AZZ) and Smart Global Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SGH).

The Labor Department's JOLTS report for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Job openings are projected to increase to 11.013 million in August compared to July's better-than-expected reading of 10.934 million. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida is set to speak at 11:15 a.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6 points to 34,370.00 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures traded rose 1.25 points to 4,352.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 17 points to 14,725.75.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 45,313,350 with around 734,610 deaths. Indiareported a total of at least 33,985,920 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,582,730 cases.

Oil prices traded slightly higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.2% to trade at $83.85 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures gained 0.2% to trade at $80.64 a barrel.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.6%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.7%, while German DAX 30 dropped 0.7% and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.7%. The UK's unemployment rate fell to 4.5% during the three months to August, while average weekly earnings including bonuses rose 7.2% year-over-year. Wholesale prices in Germany surged 13.2% annually in September.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.94%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 1.25% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.58%, India's BSE Sensex slipped 0.2%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded lower by 0.3%. Australia's new home sales increased 2.3% in September, while NAB business confidence index rose to 13 in September from revised -6 in August. Auto sales in China dipped 19.6% year-over-year to 2.07 million units in September. Producer prices in Japan increased 6.3% year-over-year in August.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Keybanc maintained Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) with an Overweight and raised the price target from $132 to $140.

Papa John's shares fell 0.4% to close at $124.10 on Monday.

Breaking News * Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) raised its buyback plan to $1.5 billion. The company also said it sees Q3 pre-tax net catastrophe losses of $330 million to $345 million.

* Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) does not plan to share the formula for making its COVID-19 vaccine, Chairman Noubar Afeyan said in a recent interview with the Associated Press.

* Relay Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RLAY) reported a $350 million common stock offering.

* Jon Gruden, head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, is resigning following news reports that he engaged in homophobic, misogynistic and racist email messaging.