Futures slide, Trump China news conference looms

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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak Friday to The Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies at Princeton University. The event, taking place virtually at 11 a.m. ET, will be moderated by Alan Blinder, former Fed vice chairman under Bill Clinton. The focus of the talk will likely be on the economy and the central bank’s stimulus measures during the coronavirus crisis. Powell will also take part in a moderated audience question and answer session. Earlier this month, Powell said policymakers may have to use additional tools to pull the country out of an economic downturn that has caused “a level of pain that is hard to capture in words.” —Li

Shares of the athletic retailer ticked up in premarket trading on Friday after Raymond James hiked its price target to the highest on Wall Street. Raymond James, which has a buy rating on Lululemon, raised its 12-month target to $335 per share from $250 per share. The new target implies a near 18% rally from Thursday’s closing price of $284.42 per share. The firm said the yoga-pants maker remains of its top ideas for long-term, secular winners in a retail landscape that is characterized by a widening gap between winners and losers. “We believe LULU’s dominance in the growing athletic apparel market will continue to increase as its innovation machine continues to deliver exciting and unique product to its loyal customer base,” Raymond James retail analyst Matthew McClintock said in a note to clients. Raymond James increased its fiscal first quarter earnings estimates for 2020, but the numbers still represent large declines from 2019. “The central takeaway here is that near-term earnings declines are transitory and that, more importantly, the current crisis only accelerates LULU’s favorable positioning as a leader in the athletic apparel market,” McClintock added. Shares of Lululemon rose 0.6% in early trading. – Fitzgerald

Oil moved lower on Friday, but for the month West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, is on track to register a more than 70% gain for its best month on record. After falling to record lows in April, an uptick in demand as well as historic supply cuts have driven prices higher. But prices are still far from recent highs. On Friday, WTI traded around $33 per barrel, or about 50% below its January high of $65.65 per barrel. “It certainly doesn’t feel like it was oil’s best month ever,” said Regina Mayor, KPMG’s global head of energy. “Low $30s for WTI is clearly better than where we were at the end of April, but it’s not sufficient enough to bring the bulk of production back online,” she added. —Stevens

Stock futures fell slightly on Friday morning as traders awaited a news conference from President Donald Trump regarding China. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dipped 70 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures both fell 0.1%. Trump announced he would hold the news conference late during Thursday’s session, sending equity prices lower for the day. The news conference comes after China approved a controversial national security bill earlier this week.Despite the decline in futures, Wall Street was headed for solid weekly gains. The Dow and S&P 500 are both up 3.8% and 2.5%, respectively, for the week while the Nasdaq Composite has gained 0.5%. —Imbert

—With reporting from Yun Li.

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