Benzinga | Nov 18, 2021 06:11AM EST

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Earnings, Jobless Claims Data

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones tumbled more than 200 points in the prior session. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Macy's, Inc. (NYSE:M), Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA), Kohl's Corporation (NYSE:KSS) and Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT).

Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released ay 8:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect jobless claims declining to 261,000 for the November 13 week from 267,000 in the previous week. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for November is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the index of leading economic indicators for October is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for November will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 7:30 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will speak at 9:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET, while San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly will speak at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 69 points to 35,936.00 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 15 points to 4,701.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 89.75 points to 16,401.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 48,287,920 with around 787,980 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,478,510 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 21,977,660 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.4% to trade at $79.94 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.8% to trade at $77.73 a barrel. US crude oil inventories dropped 2.101 million barrels in the week ending November 12, following a 1.001 million rise in the prior period, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The EIA'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 mixed today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.2% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.2%, London's FTSE 100 fell 0.2% while German DAX 30 gained 0.2%. Passenger car registrations in the European Union tumbled 30.3% year-over-year to 665,001 units in October.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.30%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.29% and China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.47%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1%, while India's BSE Sensex fell 0.4%.

Broker Recommendation

UBS initiated coverage on Square, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $322.

Square shares rose 1.4% to $235.00 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here



Breaking News * NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter, driven by record revenues in Gaming, Data Center and Professional Visualization segments. The company also issued a strong forecast for the fourth quarter.

* Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) unveiled the U.S. production model for its all-electric bZ4X.

* Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) reported upbeat earnings for its first quarter, while sales missed estimates. The company also issued weal sales forecast for the current quarter.

* Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), which rebranded as Meta Platforms Inc, showed off "haptic gloves" recently and a California-based startup, HaptX, says that the Mark Zuckerberg-led company's appear to be "substantively identical" to its patented technology.

Check out other breaking news here