A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Mostly Lower Following Last Week's Plunge

U.S. stock futures traded mostly lower in early pre-market trade, following a sharp decline in the previous week led by technology stocks. US stock markets were closed Monday for a public holiday. Investors are awaiting earnings from Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ: LULU), Casey's General Stores Inc (NASDAQ: CASY), Calavo Growers, Inc.(NASDAQ: CVGW) and ABM Industries, Inc. (NYSE: ABM). Data on consumer credit for July will be released at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2 points to 28,076 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded fell 17.25 points to 3,400.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 231.50 points to 11,317.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 6,301,320 with around 189,210 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 4,147,790 cases, while India reported a total of at least 4,280,420 confirmed cases.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 1.7% to trade at $41.30 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 3.8% to trade at $38.27 a barrel. The total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 1 to 181 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.2% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1%. The French CAC 40 Index slipped 1.2%, while German DAX 30 fell 0.8% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3%. German exports continued to rebound for the third straight month, increasing 4.7% in July from June. The Eurozone economy contracted by 11.8% on quarter during the three months ended June, lesser than initial estimates for a 12.1% decline.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.14% China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.72% and India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.3%. Japanese economy shrank higher than initially expected during the April-June quarter, with the GDP contracting 7.9% versus the prior quarter, down from the preliminary estimate of 7.8% contraction.

Analysts at Raymond James upgraded W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE: GWW) from Market Perform to Outperform.

Grainger shares fell 0.6% to close at $358.08 on Friday.
• Grifols SA – ADR (NASDAQ: GRFS) announced plans to acquire Alkahest Inc, for $146 million on a debt-free basis.
• Meggitt PLC (OTC: MEGGY) swung to pretax loss of 368.4 million pounds ($485.9 million) during the first half of the year, and announced plans to suspend its interim dividend.
• The Boeing Co (NYSE: BA) is under scrutiny from the United States Federal Aviation Administration due to production problems at its 787 Dreamliner factory, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday
• Mylan N.V. (NASDAQ: MYL) agreed to acquire Aspen's Thrombosis business in Europe for €641.9 million.