A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Tumble Amid COVID-19 Jitters

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade after a new COVID-19 variant was detected in South Africa. Investors are awaiting earnings results from Pinduoduo Inc. PDD and BlueCity Holdings Limited BLCT.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 800 points to 34,949.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 85.50 points to 4,613.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 193.75 points to 16,172.25.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 48,999,730 with around 798,550 deaths. India reported a total of at least 34,555,430 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 22,055,600 cases.

Oil prices traded sharply lower as Brent crude futures fell 5.4% to trade at $76.56 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 6.5% to trade at $73.33 a barrel. US crude oil inventories climbed 1.017 million barrels in the week ending November 19, the EIA said Wednesday.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 3.3% and STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 2.4%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 3.1%, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 2.6% while German DAX 30 declined 2.5%. Car production in the UK dropped 41.4% year-over-year to 64729 in October, while consumer confidence in Italy fell to 117.5 in November from 118.4 in the prior month. Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.1% year-over-year in October.

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.53%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.67% and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.56%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7%, while India’s BSE Sensex fell 2.9%. The core consumer price index in Tokyo increased 0.3% from a year ago to 100 points in November. Retail sales in Australia increased by 4.9% month-over-month in October.

Broker Recommendation

Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on LianBio LIAN with a Neutral rating and announced a price target of $18.58..

LianBio shares jumped 10.1% to close at $15.57 on Wednesday.

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Breaking News

• Tesla Inc TSLA will spend up to $188 million to ramp up capacity at the Giga Shanghai and hire another 4,000 employees upon completion early next year, cnEVpost reported on Wednesday, citing a company report.
• Global Cord Blood Corporation CO reported that its revenue for the second quarter climbed 9.8% year-over-year to RMB313.7 million ($48.7 million). Net income attributable to shareholders, however, fell 4.3% to RMB125.7 million ($19.5 million) last quarter.
• Selecta Biosciences SELB disclosed that the FDA has issued clinical hold on its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of SEL-302 due to CMC related questions.
• CVB Financial Corp. CVBF, the holding company for Citizens Business Bank, disclosed that Citizens received regulatory approvals to complete its merger with Suncrest Bank.

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