The DJIA will attempt to bounce back from Friday's sharp loss, with just a few days to go before Christmas
With just a few sessions to go before the Christmas holiday,
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are solidly higher, trying to shake off a brutal performance to close last week. Blue chip Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) should help lead the way, up 1.6% pre-market after a record-setting "Star Wars" debut. Meanwhile, crude oil remains in focus, with January-dated futures last seen just above Friday's six-year low.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
And now, on to the numbers…
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are more than 91 points above fair value.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- Chinese property stocks rallied on mounting stimulus hopes, while a strengthening yen continued to weigh on Tokyo-listed exporters.
- The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.2 million call contracts traded on Friday, compared to 927,371 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio remained at 0.77, while the 21-day moving average edged up to 0.72.
- Ericsson (ADR) (NASDAQ:ERIC) is up 5.8% pre-market, after the company signed a global patent licensing agreement with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), ending a year-long dispute. Meanwhile, concerns about iPhone sales prompted AAPL to cut the prices of its 6s and 6s Plus models by up to 16% in India.
- Former KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KBIO) CEO Martin Shkreli blamed last week's arrest for securities fraud on his drug-price hikes and larger-than-life public image. "'Trying to find anything we could to stop him' was the attitude of the government," he told The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
- Fresh off last Friday's acquisition announcement, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is up 0.9% ahead of the open on a bullish Barron's article (subscription required), which argues the stock could rally as much as 30% over the next 18 months due to its cloud-computing unit.
Earnings and Economic Data
There are no major economic or earnings reports scheduled for today. To see what else is coming up on this week's agenda, click here.