Stock Futures Rebounding Toward Record Highs

Stock futures are eyeing record levels ahead of the open this morning, with the major benchmarks looking to reclaim yesterday's losses, after retreating from intraday highs. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are up over 60 points at last check, with sentiment boosted on news that U.K. authorized emergency use of AstraZeneca's (AZN) coronavirus vaccine. S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are also modestly in the black, after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said  $600 stimulus checks started to go out yesterday evening. Meanwhile, data showed that the U.S. trade deficit in goods widened to a record high in November. 

Continue reading for more on today's market, including:

• Barnes & Nobles stock sees cost-cutting pop.
• Here is what to expect from the Nasdaq 100 rebalancing.
• Plus, AMC considers share offering; LEVI receives bull note; and CAT added to Baird's "Top Ideas" list. 

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.5 million call contracts traded on Tuesday, and 719,068 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.45 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.42. 
2. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) stock is down 3.9% at last check, after the company said it may offer up to 50 million Class A shares of common stock. Looking at its eighth-straight day of losses, the equity is down 68.3% year-to-date. 
3. Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) is up 0.7% in electronic trading, after Guggenheim raised its price target to $24 from $20, citing some "pent-up demand for apparel," amid vaccine optimism. In the past three months, LEVI has tacked on 48.9%. 
4. The shares of Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) are up 1% in pre-market trading, after Baird named the company a "top idea for 2021," and raised its price target to $220 from $206. Year-to-date, CAT is posting a 19.6% gain headed into today's trading.
5. Today brings the Chicago PMI and pending home sales data. 

Post-Brexit Trade Deal Still in Focus

Asian markets were mostly higher today, even after Wall Street cut its winning streak short as a new stimulus bill headed to the GOP-controlled Senate, and the U.S. dollar softened. Nonetheless, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 2.2% and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.1%, despite a statement from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics revising gross domestic product (GDP) downward to 6%. Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei settled 0.5% lower and South Korea’s Kospi added 1.9% on their last trading days of 2021.

European stocks are mixed, as lawmakers waited to vote on the post-Brexit trade deal reached between the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU). Investors are also celebrating the U.K.’s approval of AstraZeneca’s (AZN) COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with the University of Oxford, which will allow the country to ramp up its immunization program. In response, London’s FTSE 100 was last seen up 0.1%, while France’s CAC 40 is marginally higher and the German DAX is 0.3% lower.