Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on May 20, 2022

Wall Street ended lower after a volatile session on Thursday, with Cisco Systems slumping after giving a dismal outlook, while investors fretted about inflation and rising interest rates. The S&P 500 declined 0.58% to end the session at 3,900.79 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.26% to 11,388.50 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.75% to 31,253.13 points.

Asian shares jumped in early trade on Friday after China cut a key lending benchmark to support a slowing economy, but a gauge of global equities remained set for its longest weekly losing streak on record amid investor worries about sluggish growth. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan quickly built on early gains after the cut, and was last up 1.4%.

Domestic shares plunged on May 19, in line with global peers as concerns over inflation shattered the risk appetite of investors after the UK inflation surged to its highest annual rate in 40 years in April. Sensex cracked as many as 1,539 points in intraday trade before settling with a strong loss of 1,416 points, or 2.61 percent, at 52,792.23. Nifty settled with a loss of 431 points, or 2.65 percent, at 15,809.40.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 224 points or 1.4 percent higher at 16,008, indicating a gap-up opening for the Indian markets.

Oil prices were little changed on Friday as worries about weaker economic growth offset expectations that crude demand could rebound in China as Shanghai lifts some coronavirus lockdowns. Brent futures for July delivery fell 36 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $111.68 a barrel by 0015 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 36 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $111.85 on its last day as the front-month.

New claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, but the labor market remains tight amid worker shortages, with the number of Americans on jobless rolls at its lowest since 1969 in early May. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 218,000 for the week ended May 14, the highest level since January, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 200,000 applications for the latest week.

Gold rose in the international market amid downbeat US economic data and a sell-off in the dollar index. Gold June futures contract settled at $1841.20 per troy ounce with a gain of 1.39 percent. The dollar's weakness and weakness in the equity market also helped gold prices gain strength.

The rupee ended 14 paise lower at 77.73 per dollar on May 19. A sharp sell-off in equity market and heavywelling by the foreign investors dragged the rupee lower. However, weakness in the dollar index capped the losses of the rupee.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold Indian shares worth ₹4,899.92 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made net purchases worth ₹3,225.54 crore.