U.S. Stock Futures are modestly lower in premarket trading following two straight days of gains. The recent positive moves come despite yesterday’s retail sales data that hit below expectations, rising 0.2% last month versus expectations of a 0.6% gain. The core rate rose 0.3%, which was in-line with estimates. 

Investor focus will turn to the Fed with the FOMC meeting starting today and the announcement on interest rates tomorrow afternoon. Also on tap today is a call between President Trump and Russia’s Putin on a potential ceasefire, which may add some volatility to markets.

Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)

• Oil (/CL) – Oil prices are up over 1% to the $68 level.
• Gold (/GC) – Gold is up around 1% after a new all-time high yesterday.
• Bitcoin (/BTC) – The cryptocurrency is down around 2% premarket.
• VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index has slightly below 21.
• U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is flat around 103.

Biggest Premarket Movers (as of 7 AM ET, Mark Change)

1. Ralph Lauren (RL): +2.79%
2. Newmont (NEM): +1.54%
3. Linde (LIN): +1.24%

1. Tesla (TSLA): -2.55%
2. Entergy (ETR): -2.29%
3. Broadcom (AVGO): -2.09%

Economic Data

• 8:30AM ET
• Housing Starts/Permits
• Import/Export Prices
• 9:15AM ET
• Industrial Production
• 11:00AM ET
• Treasury Buyback Announcement
• 1:00PM ET
• 20-Yr. Bond Auction

Earnings

• Premarket: IHS, BEKE, TME, XPEV, ZKH
• Postmarket: HQY, STNE, ZTO

• Premarket Tomorrow: GDS, GIS, KC, OLLI, SIG, TECHY, WSM
• Postmarket Tomorrow: FIVE, YY, WS

Upgrades/Downgrades

• Goldman Sachs upgrades Ralph Lauren (RL) to Buy from Neutral
• Keefe Bruyette upgrades Block (XYZ) to Outperform from Market Perform
• Morgan Stanley upgrades Lucid (LCID) to Equal Weight from Underweight
• Guggenheim downgrades Incyte (INCY) to Neutral from Buy
• Barclays downgrades Pepsico (PEP) to Equal Weight from Overweight
• UBS downgrades Paccar (PCAR) to Neutral from Buy