There's a little bit more uncertainty around the Fed's decision this time than what's normally seen
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are pointing to a positive open this morning, trading cautiously above fair value. The trading action likely won't pick up in a major way until after the Fed's policy decision this afternoon, while investors will also be tuning in for the post-meeting press conference from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. This comes after trade tailwinds lifted stocks on Tuesday, as the Dow, S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) look to grab a third straight win.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White breaks down the best stocks for options traders over the past year.
- Options volume jumped on spiking U.S. Steel stock.
- The chip stock that could burn bears.
- Plus, Apple production buzz; Adobe posts strong quarter; and Target updates investors.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
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The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.12 million call contracts traded on Tuesday, compared to 617,389 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.55, while the 21-day moving average was 0.67.
- A report in the Nikkei Asian Review said that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is looking into the costs of potentially moving 15%-30% of its iPhone production out of China as a result of the U.S.-Sino trade dispute. Brokerage firm Wedbush weighed in by saying the tech giant could move about 5% of its iPhone production to India over the next year and a half.
- The shares of Adobe Inc (NASDAQ:ADBE) are up 4.6% before the open thanks to an upbeat quarterly report, driven by another strong showing from the software firm's cloud business. A positive session would snap a two-quarter post-earnings losing stretch for ADBE shares, which have been enjoying technical support from the 80-day moving average.
- Target Corporation's (NYSE:TGT) said this morning the company's recent register outage is not going to change its quarterly guidance. The shares are still holding near their 52-week high and are up almost 31% in 2019.
- Weekly crude inventories and MBA mortgage applications are on tap. Quarterly earnings reports are expected from American Outdoor Brands (AOBC), Barnes & Noble (BKS), and Oracle (ORCL). .
Trade Talk Fueled Big Gains for Asian Stocks
Pervading optimism over the trade situation between the U.S. and China had Asian markets ending higher. The biggest gainer was the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, which surged 2.6%, notching its best day in over seven months, while South Korea’s Kospi tacked on 1.2% on a boost from Samsung Electronics, and the Shanghai Composite in China added 1%. Meanwhile, a strong day for conglomerate Softbank helped propel Japan’s Nikkei 1.7% higher -- and offset a sixth straight monthly drop in exports in May.
European stocks are mixed at midday, ahead of the highly anticipated U.S. Fed rate decision. While the French CAC 40 and the German DAX are up a modest 0.1% and 0.05%, respectively, the FTSE 100 in London is 0.3% lower, as supermarket stocks sell off.