U.S.-China trade rhetoric could be propping up Wall Street
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are looking to close the week out on a positive note. Wall Street is so far brushing off the Labor Department's non-farms payroll report that showed 20.5 million jobs were lost in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic -- sending the unemployment rate to 14.7% -- its highest spike in the post-World War II era. The "real" unemployment rate surged to 22.8%, but for as bad as the numbers are, they came in under projections of 21.5 million lost jobs and an unemployment rate of 16%.
Elsewhere, futures on the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are also confidently above fair value, likely boosted by news overnight that the U.S. and China intend to cooperate on January's phase one trade deal, even amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Subscriber surge has Wall Street excited about T-Mobile stock.
- This Apple supplier has a tough ceiling to topple.
- Plus, Clorox can't keep up with demand; RUTH up despite lackluster earnings; and Uber Eats props saves earnings.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.4 million call contracts traded on Thursday, and 827,182 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio remained at 0.59, and the 21-day moving average fell to 0.62.
- Clorox Co (NYSE:CLX) is up 1.1% ahead of the open, after the cleaning products company said it doesn't expect to catch up to disinfectant wipe demand until the summer. Currently, Clorox stock is up 31.6% year-to-date, and received a price-target hike to $188 from $160 at Jefferies this morning.
- Ruth's Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUTH) is up 1.5% in electronic trading, despite the Ruth's Chris Steak House parent reporting quarterly profits of 9 cents per share in well below Wall Street estimates. Revenue missed its mark too thanks to the coronavirus outbreak. Year-over-year, RUTH is down 65%, but is a ways off its March 18 10-year low of $2.31.
- Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) is 5.6% higher before the bell, after the ride-sharing giant reported quarterly losses a space-shuttle ride away from the anticipated 88 cents per share. However, revenue exceeded forecasts, and the company's Eats service saw a 52% jump in service. On the charts, UBER is looking to take out its 80-day moving average for the first time since early March.
- Also on tap today are wholesale inventories. Cronos Group (CRON) will step into the earnings confessional.
Trade Buzz Boosts Overseas Markets
Stocks in Asia closed higher today, following reports that top trade negotiators in Washington and Beijing agreed to cooperate, promising to create favorable conditions for a phase one trade deal. In response, Japan’s Nikkei grabbed a 2.6% win, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng moved 1% higher, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.8%, and the Kospi in South Korea added 0.9%.
In Europe, markets are also seeing gains, with optimism boosted by the aforementioned U.S.-China trade buzz and the anticipation of the U.S. jobs report. London’s FTSE 100 has tacked on 1.4% so far, while the French CAC 40 is up 1%, and the DAX in Germany has risen 1.1%.