Benzinga | Jul 28, 2021 06:02AM EDT

A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Slightly Higher Ahead Of Fed Decision

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade ahead of earnings from big tech companies. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and McDonald's Corp (NYSE:MCD).

An advance report on U.S. international trade in goods and data on wholesale inventories for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET, while Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 8 points to 34,945.00 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 7 points to 4,401.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 36.50 points to 14,984.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 34,603,990 with around 611,280 deaths. India reported a total of at least 31,484,600 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 19,749,070 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $73.82 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.5% to trade at $72.02 a barrel. US crude oil stocks dropped 4.73 million barrels in the week ended July 23, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. The Energy Information Administration's weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.6% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.3%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.5%, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.2% while German DAX 30 gained 0.1%. The consumer confidence in France declined to 101 in July versus a revised reading of 103 in the earlier month. Annual house price growth in the UK fell to 10.5% in July from a seventeen-year high level of 13.4% in the prior month. Import prices in Germany climbed 12.9% annually in June, while consumer climate indicator for Germany came in unchanged at -0.3 for August. Italy's manufacturing confidence index climbed to 115.7 in July from 114.8 in the prior month.

Asian markets traded mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.39%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.54%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.58%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.7% and India's BSE Sensex fell 0.4%. The index of leading economic indicators in Japan, slipped to 102.6 in May from a final reading of 103.8 a month ago, while index of coincident economic indicators dropped to 92.1 in May from a final reading of 95.3 a month ago. The annual inflation rate in Australia surged to 3.8% in the second quarter from 1.1% in the previous quarter.

Broker Recommendation

Morgan Stanley upgraded Sony Group Corporation (NYSE:SONY) from Equal-Weight to Overweight.

Sony shares rose 1.5% to $101.13 in pre-market trading.

Check out other major ratings here



Breaking News

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter, driven by double-digit growth across its product categories. Apple's flagship product -- the iPhone -- fetched revenues of $39.57 billion or 48.6% of the total revenues.

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter on Tuesday.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) posted upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter on Tuesday.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter and raised its FY21 guidance.

Check out other breaking news here