DJIA futures are trading below fair value, as traders weigh earnings and inflation data
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are trading below fair value this morning, as the Dow looks poised to
extend yesterday's slide. Traders are dissecting earnings from oil heavyweights and Dow stocks
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), with the former headed for a drop out of the gate. Conversely, oil prices are exploring year-to-date highs, with June-dated crude futures popping 1% to $46.48 per barrel. For economic data, consumer spending and the Fed-watched personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index both advanced just 0.1% in March.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are almost 38 points below fair value.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- Stocks in China stumbled, while inflation data rocked European indexes.
- The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1,036,492 call contracts traded on Thursday, compared to 800,515 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio jumped to 0.77, while the 21-day moving average moved up to 0.67.
- Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) easily topped Wall Street's expectations with its first-quarter earnings results last night, boosting the stock 12% in electronic trading -- great news for options traders. A flurry of bullish notes has since ensued, including a huge price-target increase at J.P. Morgan Securities to $915, way above AMZN's all-time high of $696.44 from December.
- Elsewhere on the earnings front, LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) looks ready to prove option traders right (and analysts wrong), after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit, on top of raising its full-year outlook. The stock is now almost 8% higher in pre-market trading, though the bar was set somewhat low given its last post-earnings price action.
- In M&A news, Rovi Corporation (NASDAQ:ROVI) is said to be buying TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ:TIVO) for $1.1 billion -- or $10.70 per share -- confirming earlier speculation. TIVO closed at $9.42, and is now rallying ahead of the open. ROVI, too, was seen higher in pre-market trading.
Earnings and Economic Data
The weekly economic docket winds down today with the Chicago purchasing managers index (PMI), and the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey. Hitting the earnings confessional will be AstraZeneca (AZN), Immunogen (IMGN), Seagate Technology (STX), Tyco International (TYC), and VF Corp (VFC). To see what is coming up on next week's schedule, click here.
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