There's a ton of big-name companies releasing quarterly reports today
U.S. stock futures are pointing to a mixed open for a huge day in earnings. Several big names have already reported this morning, including Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) components McDonald's (MCD), Travelers (TRV), United Technologies (UTX), and Procter & Gamble (PG), with the latter stock in particular seeing notable strength ahead of the open. Several more prominent S&P 500 Index (SPX) stocks are on the schedule, as well, including post-close reports from Chipotle (CMG) and Snap (SNAP). As such, stocks will need a solid round of quarterly updates if they want to add to Monday's gains.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.2 million call contracts traded on Monday, compared to 737,316 million put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.64, while the 21-day moving average was 0.70.
- Another earnings reaction to monitor this morning is from Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG), as the stock paces for a 6.5% spike at the open. The company posted an increase in international sales that helped its earnings per share for the quarter to easily surpass estimates. This comes after HOG stock yesterday broke out of recent resistance near the $37 level to notch its highest close since early May.
- One of the biggest pre-market moves is coming from Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB), up 36.5% after the company said it was going to seek Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its Alzheimer's drug aducanumab. This early surge has the stock set to trade back above $300 for the first time since its March bear gap, triggered by news it was halting two studies for aducanumab.
- For analyst notes, Dropbox Inc (NASDAQ:DBX) just received an upgrade to "buy" at Instinet, and the brokerage lifted its price target to $25 from $24. DBX shares have been trending lower again in recent weeks, closing yesterday at $18.92, and haven't traded above $25 since mid-July.
- Existing home sales come out today, and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will speak. Earnings reports will pick up in a big way, with Centene (CNC), Discover Financial Services (DFS), Hasbro (HAS), iRobot (IRBT), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Novartis (NVS), Nucor (NUE), Polaris Industries (PII), PulteGroup (PHM), Quest Diagnostics (DGX), Sherwin-Williams (SHW), Six Flags (SIX), Skechers (SKX), and UPS (UPS) all releasing numbers.
European Traders Eye Brexit Votes
Asian markets rose today, taking cues from the latest positive U.S.-China trade headlines. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.2%, after President Donald Trump's chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow noted the possibility of removing December duty increases. Rounding out the region, South Korea's Kospi added 1.2% thanks to a big day from chipmakers, while Japan's Nikkei was closed for holiday.
Stocks in Europe pared earlier losses and are pointed higher at last check. London's FTSE 100 is up 0.4%, ahead of two big votes from members of parliament today to determine the status of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's hard-won Brexit deal with Brussels. The French CAC 40 is sitting just below breakeven, while the German DAX is up 0.08%, with gains likely hamstrung by a dismal guidance from tourism giant Tui.