Stocks are mostly clinging to breakeven midday
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) has mostly been clinging near breakeven, as Wall Street turns its attention to a spate of economic data, including core retail sales, which showed clothing-store sales' biggest one-month decline since 2009. Better-than-expected U.S. consumer sentiment for February could be helping offset some of these losses, along with a massive post-earnings pop for Nvidia (NVDA), which is helping to keep the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) afloat at the midway mark. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) is struggling for direction, but has managed to find its footing in positive territory for the time being.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- The e-tail icon in focus triple-dose of headlines.
- Wells Fargo has high hopes for this blue chip before earnings.
- Plus, calls pop on FEYE stock; Suntrust has high hopes for BioXcel; and an FDA update note slams Pulse Biosciences stock
Cybersecurity specialist FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE) is seeing an unusual amount of bullish activity in the options pits, with the 20,000 calls across the tape so far running at two times the pace of what's normally seen at this point. The March 17 call is the most popular, followed by the weekly 2/14 17-strike call, which expires when markets close this evening. There are also positions being opened at the September 17 call. At last check, FEYE is down 0.6% to trade at $16.37.
A glowing bull note from Suntrust Robinson has put BioXcel Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BTAI) near the top of the Nasdaq, up 42.1% at $33.89 after the analyst hiked its price target all the way to $150 from $24, and projected $1 billion in unadjusted peak sales for the company's experimental opioid withdrawal drug BXCL501. The equity touched a new record high of $41.59 earlier and is now up 130.7% for the year, with recent support emerging at its ascending 20-day moving average prior to today.
Pulse Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:PLSE) is one of the worst stocks on the Nasdaq today after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected the company's marketing application of its CellFX dermatology treatment system, sparking a downgrade from HC Wainwright to "neutral" from "buy." The analyst also slashed its price target to $6 from $26. PLSE is down 37% at last check to trade at $7.68, eyeing its lowest close in three years.