Benzinga | Aug 14, 2020 06:02AM EDT

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Drop Ahead Of Economic Reports

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, after closing mixed in the previous session. Data on retail sales, and nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for July will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while data on business inventories for June and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is set to speak at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 5,254,170 with around 167,240 deaths. Brazil confirmed over 3,224,870 cases, while India reported a total of at least 2,461,190 confirmed cases.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 192 points to 27,631 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures traded fell 13.95 points to 3,353.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 18.50 points to 11,156.75.

Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $44.69 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.6% to trade at $41.98 a barrel. The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the recent week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 2.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 1.7%. The UK's FTSE index was trading lower by 2.1%, while French CAC 40 Index slipped 2.1% and German DAX 30 fell 1.2%.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.17%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.19% China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.19% and India's BSE Sensex fell 1.4%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) from Underweight to Equal-Weight and raised the price target from $1050 to $1360.

Tesla shares rose 1.1% to $1,639.00 in pre-market trading.

Breaking News

* Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter and also issued an upbeat forecast for the current quarter.

* Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) reported upbeat earnings for its second quarter.

* IQIYI Inc (NASDAQ:IQ) said it is under an investigation from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also reported a narrower-than-expected loss for the second quarter, while sales missed estimates. Additionally, the company issued downbeat sales forecast for the third quarter.

* Novavax, Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX) said Friday it has reached an agreement with the government of the United Kingdom to supply 60 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, subject to success of pending clinical trials.