20 11 US PRE OPEN

The S&P 500 Futures trade cautiously after they posted modest gains yesterday.

Later today, the European Commission will post November Consumer Confidence Index (-18.0 expected).

European indices are slightly up in the session midday but still face short term consolidation. The U.K. Office for National Statistics has reported October retail sales at +1.2% (vs -0.3% on month expected), the November Gfk Consumer Confidence was reported at -33, vs -34 expected and the October Public Sector Net Borrowing was released at 22.3 billion pounds deficit, 31.5 billion pounds expected. In Germany, October PPI was released at +0.1%, vs +0.4% the previous month.

Asian indices closed again in dispersed order as the Hong Kong HSI and the Chinese CSI ended in the green when the Japanese Nikkei and the Australian ASX closed on the downside. Official data showed that Australia's preliminary retail sales grew 1.6% on month in October (-1.1% in September).

WTI Crude Oil remains slightly bullish. Later today, Baker Hughes will report the total number of rig counts for the U.S. and Canada.

U.S indices closed up on Thursday, lifted by Energy (+1.53%), Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (+1.32%) and Food & Staples Retailing (+1.13%) sectors.

Approximately 89% of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 80% were trading above their 20-day moving average. The VIX Index dropped 0.73pt (-3.06%) to 23.11 and WTI Crude Oil rose $0.14 (+0.33%) to $41.96 at the close.

On the U.S economic data front, Initial Jobless Claims unexpectedly rose to 742K for the week ending November 14th (700K expected), from a revised 711K in the week before. Continuing Claims fell to 6,372K for the week ending November 7th (6,400K expected), from a revised 6,801K in the prior week. The Leading Index rose 0.7% on month in October (as expected), in line with September. Finally, Existing Homes Sales jumped to 6.85M on month in October (6.47M expected), from a revised 6.57M in September, a level last reached in 2006.

Gold and U.S dollar consolidate as U.S Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that emergency loan programs would expire on December 31.

Gold rose 0.3 dollar (+0.02%) to 1866.85 dollars.

The dollar index fell 0.01pt to 92.28.


U.S. Equity Snapshot


Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) "will submit a request today to the U.S. FDA for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of their mRNA vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2, which will potentially enable use of the vaccine in high-risk populations in the U.S. by the middle to end of December 2020."


Source: TradingView, GAIN Capital

Foot Locker (FL), a global athletic footwear and apparel retailer, is jumping premarket as third quarter adjusted EPS and same-store sales significantly beat estimates.

FireEye (FEYE), the developer of cyber security solutions, soared postmarket after announcing a 400 million dollars strategic investment led by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities. FireEye intends to use the proceeds to support strategic growth initiatives."

Ross Stores (ROST), a leading American off-price apparel and home fashion retailer, disclosed third quarter sales around flat at 3.8 billion dollars, above forecasts.

Workday (WDAY), a leader in enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, climbed after hours after posting quarterly earnings that beat estimates. 

Williams-Sonoma (WSM),  a specialty retailer of products for the home, popped in extended trading as quarterly earnings were better than expected. Digital sales jumped 49%.

Intuit (INTU), a developer and marketer of accounting software for small and medium sized businesses, announced first quarter adjusted EPS of 0.94 dollar, beating forecasts, up from 0.41 dollar a year ago on net revenue of 1.3 billion dollars, higher than anticipated, up from 1.2 billion dollars a year earlier. The company disclosed second quarter adjusted EPS forecast that was better than expected. 

Helmerich & Payne (HP), the largest U.S. contract driller of oil and gas, reported fourth quarter adjusted LPS of 0.74 dollar, smaller than expected, down from an EPS of 0.38 dollar a year ago on revenue of 208.3 million dollars, just above forecasts, down from 649.1 million dollars a year earlier.