Big Tech Earnings Boost Nasdaq Futures

Coming off of yesterday's strong gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) scoring its best day since November, futures on the blue-chip index and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are hovering close to breakeven this morning. However, Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are up nearly 100 points, thanks to strong earnings from FAANG names Amazon.com (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL). The former is pointed higher in premarket trading despite emblematic CEO Jeff Bezos announcing he was stepping down.

Investor's are also eyeing ongoing stimulus negotiations in Congress, as well as the latest jobs data, with the U.S. private sector adding a better-than-anticipated 174,000 jobs in January according to the ADP National Employment Report.

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

• Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White takes a look at sectors ripe for overdue analyst attention.
• Options bulls chimed in on this blue chip's dip after earnings.
• Plus, Spotify slips on revenue miss; analysts rush to GOOGL after earnings; and the billion-dollar snack deal developing. 

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 2.1 million call contracts traded on Tuesday, and 848,843 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.40 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.41.
2. Spotify Technology SA (NYSE:SPOT) is down 7.3% in before the bell, after the music streaming company reported wider-than-expected fourth-quarter losses per share, despite better-than-expected revenue. The number of premium subscribers jumped up 24% from the previous year, but the company announced a bleak revenue forecast for the upcoming quarter.
3. The shares of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are up 7.9% in electronic trading, after the company's fourth-quarter results beat, with the company announcing earnings per share of $22.30 -- much higher than the $15.90 expected by Wall Street. To follow, analysts blasted GOOGL, with no fewer than 21 price-target hikes since the report was announced. Looking to extend yesterday's record highs, the stock is up 29.4% year-over-year coming into today.
4. Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) is up 2.6% ahead of the open, after news that the company is in talks to acquire Planters snack brands from Kraft Heinz (KHC) for $3 billion. So far in 2021, the equity is up 4.6%. 
5. Today, final Markit services PMI and ISM services index will be reported. 

Overseas Markets Unpack Economic Data

Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday, after the Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for January came in at 52, indicating China’s services sector lagged for the month and hit its worth growth pace in nine months. In turn, China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.5%. Meanwhile, the South Korean Kospi added 1.1%, thanks to outsized gains from Kia Motors amid a new deal with Apple (AAPL), while the Japanese Nikkei rose 1%. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.2%, after tech giant Alibaba said its cloud division is now profitable.

European stocks are mostly higher, as investors await earnings reports from major names including Biogen (BIIB), Qualcomm (QCOM), and PayPal (PYPL), and monitor stimulus developments in the U.S. New data revealed that coronavirus lockdowns worsened the euro zone’s economic situation, however. This is per the IHS Markit’s final composite PMI reading for January, which came in at 47.8. In response, the German DAX and the French CAC 40 were last seen up 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively, while London’s FTSE 100 is down 0.1%.