Twitter is this morning's big earnings winner
Fresh off its best outing in nine months, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are pointed at another impressive gain this morning. Fueling today's push is news that as part of the "phase one" trade deal, China will halve its tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. imports, going into effect on Feb. 14. S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are also eyeing another push higher today, as investors unpack the latest corporate reports, with social media stock Twitter (TWTR) the earnings darling today. Elsewhere, weekly jobless claims dropped to a lower-than-expected 202,000.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Options traders eye this video game stock ahead of earnings.
- Breaking down Chipotle stock's big day yesterday.
- Plus, Cigna scores earnings beat; coronavirus weighing on Qualcomm; and Pizza Hut dings YUM sales.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.6 million call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 808,826 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.51, and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.53.
- Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) stock is up 2.4% ahead of the bell, after the health services name reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that topped analyst forecasts. The beat was largely attributed to the company's acquisition of Express Scripts. CI is set to open just below its Jan. 21 annual high of $214.44.
- Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) is pointed lower by 1.8% in electronic trading, despite the chip name reporting an earnings and revenue beat for the fiscal second quarter. The company did note that the coronavirus could disrupt their phone industry sales. RBC and Cowen upped their price targets to $92 and $105 respectively, while J.P. Morgan Securities trimmed its target to $105 from $108.
- The shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) are down 2.1% before the open, after the Taco Bell parent missed its earnings estimates by 13 cents. And while revenue came in above expectations, same-store sales were slightly lower on Pizza Hut weakness. YUM had spent the last week staring up at its 160-day moving average.
- On the economic calendar today is just productivity data. Dunking (DNKN), Fiat Chrysler (FCAU), Pinterest, and Uber (UBER) will enter the earnings confessional.
Tariff News Boost Asian Markets; Europe Unpacks Earnings
Stocks in Asia ended the day notably higher, with South Korea’s Kospi leading the region on an impressive 2.9% pop. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was not too far behind with a 2.6% gain, while Japan’s Nikkei tacked on 2.4%, and the Shanghai Composite in China added 1.7%. This comes after China announced that it would cut tariffs in half on hundreds of imported U.S. goods, starting next Friday, Feb. 14.
Stocks in Europe are also higher midday, as investors keep an eye on a brand new batch of earnings reports. Over in the U.K., the London FTSE 100 is brushing off worse-than-expected quarterly results from its domestic postal service, Royal Mail, up 0.3% at last check, while the German DAX is no doubt getting a boost from a surging post-earnings ArcelorMittal, putting on 0.7% so far. Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 is also up 0.7%.