US equity futures experienced a decline ahead of Monday's market opening as the Q3 earnings season commences. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 0.4%, while S&P 500 futures also dropped by 0.4%. Nasdaq futures were down by 0.5% as investors prepared for upcoming earnings reports. Pepsico is set to report its earnings on Tuesday, providing critical insights as banking giants JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are poised to officially kick off the earnings season on Friday. In the commodities market, oil prices witnessed an increase, with the global benchmark North Sea Brent crude showing a rise of 1% to $78.84 per barrel.
Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed by 1.1% to $75.22 per barrel. The report on consumer credit, scheduled for release at 3 PM ET, is anticipated to reflect a decrease, with estimates suggesting a drop from $25.45 billion in the previous month to $11.8 billion in August, according to market analyses compiled by Bloomberg. Looking at global markets, Japan's Nikkei closed indicating a significant uptick, finishing 1.8% higher.
Conversely, Hong Kong's Hang Seng also ended on a positive note, gaining 1.6%. However, the Chinese market paused operations due to a public holiday. Across the Atlantic, the UK's FTSE 100 registered a gain of 0.4%, while Germany’s DAX index reflected a minor setback, falling by 0.2% during Europe’s early afternoon trading session. In the equities sector, notable movements were observed: shares of Pfizer rose by 2.9% before the opening bell following media reports suggesting that the pharmaceutical company might become a target for a shareholder campaign initiated by activist investor Starboard Value.
Additionally, Duckhorn Portfolio saw its shares more than double in value after announcing an acquisition agreement with Butterfly Equity worth $1.95 billion. Conversely, shares of Mullen Automotive experienced a decrease of 5.6% after the company revealed a cost-cutting strategy that includes a substantial reduction of 20% in its workforce.
In a more acute downturn, Trevena shares plummeted by 48% following disclosure that it received a delisting notice from Nasdaq, with trading of its shares set to be suspended effective Tuesday..