There's a ton for traders to consider this morning on Wall Street
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are trading above fair value this morning, as stocks try to end the busy four-day trading week on a positive note. Either way, it's setting up to be another action-packed day on Wall Street, with traders digesting renewed negotiations around the government shutdown, a leading Wall Street Journal story suggesting the Fed could stop shrinking its balance sheet sooner than expected, as well as today's corporate earnings releases -- headlined by Dow component Intel (INTC). As for now, the Dow, S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) would need a solid outing to end the week in the black.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
5 Things You Need to Know Today
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The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 916,000 call contracts traded on Thursday, compared to 655,693 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.72, and the 21-day moving average was 0.64
- Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is set for another post-earnings win, trading up 3.9% before the open, thanks to the company's better-than-expected quarterly sales. SBUX shares have continued to see support from the 80-day moving average, and have enjoyed a number of bull notes already following the results.
- Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) has moved in to buy British payments specialist Earthport for $305 million, thwarting rival Visa's (V) buyout bid of the company. While V shares sank when news of its offer hit the wires, MA stock is pacing for a positive open.
- Another Wall Street firm is waxing optimistic about Amazon.com, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AMZN) advertising business. Specifically, Cowen believes Amazon's fourth-quarter results, set to hit next week, will top expectations thanks to strength in advertising, on top of the company's e-commerce and AWS businesses. Cowen had already named AMZN stock a top pick for 2019.
- Today will bring durable goods orders and new home sales data. The week will come to a close with AbbVie (ABBV) and Colgate-Palmolive (CL) tossing their earnings into the ring. For next week, FAANG earnings will be in focus.
Tech Stocks Lead Rally In Asia
Stocks in Asia rallied to end the week, with the tech sector leading the charge. Tencent rallied more than 4% in Hong Kong, boosted by the long-awaited approval of two mobile games by Chinese regulators, while chip stocks extended their gains to a second straight day in Seoul. By the close, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.7%, South Korea's Kospi rose 1.5%, Japan's Nikkei added just under 1%, and China's Shanghai Composite lagged the pack with a 0.4% gain amid lingering trade uncertainty.
European markets are also pointed higher at midday, despite a nearly three-year low in Germany's Ifo business sentiment index. Instead, traders are cheering continued strength in semiconductor stocks, which have effectively shrugged off an earnings disappointment from U.S. counterpart Intel. Additionally, Renault is up 4.6% in Paris, after Japan's trade minister said the exit of former CEO Carlos Ghosn should not affect the automaker's Nissan alliance. At last check, the German DAX is up 1.6% and the French CAC 40 has climbed 1%. Meanwhile, London's FTSE 100 is up just 0.1%, with British stocks fighting an uphill battle after a Vodafone earnings miss.