Benzinga | Nov 5, 2020 06:02AM EST

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start on Wall Street; GM Earnings in Focus

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade with election results so far pointing to the odds of Joe Biden winning the presidency. Investors are awaiting earnings from AmerisourceBergen Corp (NYSE:ABC), Cardinal Health Inc (NYSE:CAH), General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd - ADR (NYSE:BABA). Wall Street closed sharply higher post the election day.

The Challenger job-cut report for October is scheduled for release at 7:30 a.m. ET, while data on initial jobless claims for the latest week and nonfarm productivity for the third quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 339 points to 28,074.00 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures traded rose 61.25 points to 3,496.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 322.25 points to 12,085.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 9,486,480 with around 233,720 deaths. India reported a total of at least 8,364,080 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 5,590,020 cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.8% to trade at $40.90 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 1% to trade at $38.75 a barrel. 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 higher today after recording gains in the previous session. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.5%. The French CAC 40 Index rose 0.6%, while German DAX 30 gained 0.8% and London's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%. Eurozone's Producer Price Index rose 0.3% month-over-month for October but declined 2.4% year-over-year. Meanwhile, the Composite and Services PMI for the region exceeded consensus.



Asian markets traded higher today. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.73%, China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 3.25% and India's BSE Sensex rose 1.7%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded higher by 1.3%. Japan's services PMI data rose to 47.7 in October, beating a consensus of 46.9.





Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Oppenheimer upgraded Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) from Perform to Outperform and announced a $260 price target.

Microsoft shares rose 2.6% to $222.11 in pre-market trading.



Breaking News

QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter and issued strong guidance for the first quarter.

Expedia Group Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its third quarter, while sales exceeded views.

Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos has offloaded $3 billion worth of the e-commerce company's shares this week, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is facing a shortage of chips used for power management in the iPhone, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.