The DJIA is set for a lower open, as large-cap earnings continue to roll in
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are trading below fair value ahead of another day full of earnings and economic data. For corporate data, traders are digesting Facebook Inc's (NASDAQ:FB) impressive quarterly results, while Dow stock Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is also edging higher after its report. Looking ahead, fellow blue chip Visa Inc (NYSE:V) is set to report after the close, as is tech giant Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Elsewhere, weekly jobless claims were lower than expected, echoing yesterday's strong
ADP jobs report, with the nonfarm payrolls report on tap tomorrow. In the meantime, Wall Street continues to decipher yesterday's
Fed decision.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are 50 points below fair value.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 903,202 call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 640,885 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio edged up to 0.71, while the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.67.
- FB is ready to open in record-high territory, following a fourth-quarter earnings beat, and a 53% jump in revenue. Bullish options traders will be pleased, with the shares adding 1.2% in pre-market action. In the meantime, analysts are eyeing more upside, with Raymond James setting a price target of $180, compared to FB's Wednesday close of $133.23.
- After getting a boost to all-time highs from Apple earnings yesterday, Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS) is falling fast ahead of the bell, down 9.7%. Although the circuit specialist topped fiscal-third quarter earnings and sales estimates, current-quarter revenue forecasts fell short of expectations. Still, Needham and Oppenheimer both raised their price targets to $70, representing record-high territory.
- Luxury car manufacturer Ferrari N.V. (NYSE:RACE) is set to take off at the open, eyeing all-time highs, following better-than-expected earnings and full-year guidance. Specifically, RACE is up roughly 3% in electronic trading, which is nothing new; since the company announced a new CEO back in May, RACE has added 35.5%.
- Also due out today are productivity and labor costs. Taking their turns on the earnings stage are athenahealth (ATHN), AstraZeneca (AZN), Boston Scientific (BSX), CIGNA (CI), Chipotle (CMG), ConocoPhillips (COP), Cypress Semiconductor (CY), Deckers Outdoor (DECK), Delphi Automotive (DLPH), Estee Lauder (EL), FireEye (FEYE), GPRO, International Paper (IP), Parker-Hannifin (PH), Philip Morris (PM), Ralph Lauren (RL), Sirius XM (SIRI), Sony (SNE), and Tableau Software (DATA).
Overseas Trading
Markets in Asia finished the session lower, as traders digested the latest Fed comments out of the U.S. -- which sent the greenback tumbling -- as well as continuing anxieties over President Donald Trump's executive orders. China's Shanghai Composite was closed for the final day of the Lunar New Year break, and will reopen Friday. Japan's Nikkei, meanwhile, dropped 1.2%, as a stronger yen put pressure on exporters. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6% for the day, and South Korea's Kospi gave back 0.5%, after higher oil helped boost the country's consumer prices for January.
Stocks are mostly higher in Europe, as investors respond to the Bank of England's (BoE) latest move, which echoed the U.S. central bank by keeping interest rates unchanged. The BoE also raised its growth forecast, and lowered its three-year outlook for inflation. Separately, the British government released a 77-page "white paper" laying out its Brexit path. London's FTSE 100 is up 0.7% at last check, and France's CAC 40 is 0.2% higher. But Germany's DAX has turned lower, off 0.1%, as shares of Deutsche Bank drop following the company's disappointing earnings report.
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