Stocks are looking to build on last week's gains
Stock futures are heading into the new week with modest pre-market gains, keeping up some of last week's momentum. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average's (DJI) are pointed roughly 30 points higher, while Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are both trading comfortably above fair value as well, with the latter getting a boost from Big Tech.
All eyes this morning are on the ongoing stimulus talks, after U.S. President Donald Trump's $1.8 trillion stimulus offer received pushback from both Democrats and Republicans. Elsewhere, investors are gearing up for another earnings season, which will kick off after the close with reports from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Delta Air Lines (DAL).
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- This casino stock has room to run.
- Here's a rundown of the cannabis sector last week.
- Plus, judge rules in favor of AAPL's "Fortnite" ban; PEP takes a step higher on analyst upgrade; and GM's China sales take a turn for the better.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange
(CBOE) saw more than 1.6 million call contracts traded on Friday, and 732,517 put
contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio climbed to 0.44 and the
21-day moving average slipped to 0.51.
- A judge ruled in favor of Apple Inc's (NASDAQ:AAPL) decision to bar Epic Game's "Fortnite" videogame from its app store, at least for now. The decision to remove the game came after Apple accused Epic of violating its store terms by bypassing its payment systems. Ahead of the bell, AAPL is up 0.9%, with a 60% pop for 2020.
- PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) is getting a pre-market boost from Citigroup, after the analyst upped its rating to "buy" from "neutral." Citigroup predicts improved profit margins and strong organic growth sales, compared to it competitors. PEP is up 0.4% in electronic trading, and sits just atop its year-to-date breakeven, up 1.3% in 2020.
- General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) just posted 12% sales growth in its Chinese market during its third quarter, marking the company's first quarterly sales increase in China since 2018. Despite the new, GM is flat this morning, and suffers a 12.1% deficit year-to-date.
- Things will be relatively quiet today, with no economic data or earnings scheduled.
China's Central Bank Rolls Out Several Big Announcements
Stocks in Asia were mostly higher today, with China leading the charge after the People’s Bank of China made it cheaper to short the yuan, and the central bank announced that financial institutions no longer need put 20% of the previous months yuan into a risk reserve for foreign exchange forwards trading. To follow, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished up 2.2%, while the Shanghai Composite closed 2.6% higher. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei, today’s only loser, fell 0.3%.
Taking a cue from China’s stock rally, shares are higher in Europe at midday, though various governments are observing lockdowns in order to contain coronavirus outbreaks. London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.2%, while the French CAC 40 and German DAX are up 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.