Initial weekly jobless claims came in at a two-month low
Stock futures are eyeing modest opens higher this morning, as investors unpack new employment data. Initial weekly jobless claims came in at 779,000 for last week, a nine-week low and below Wall Street's estimates of 830,000. Though futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are looking to add to their three-day winning streaks, Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are seeing the most gains this morning, up over 55 points at last check. Meanwhile, stimulus negotiations are continuing in Congress, and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar unveiled an antitrust bill that could affect Big Tech stocks.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Why Wynn Resorts stock is a top pick for 2021.
- How to capitalize on earnings season with weekly options.
- Plus, QCOM falls on sales expectations; and analysts chime in on two earnings beats.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 2 million call contracts traded on Wednesday, and 888,040 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.43 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.41.
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Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) is down 7.3% in before the bell, despite the semiconductor company's better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter report. Sales missed expectations, and they announced dismal expectations for sales growth in the first half of 2021. To follow, Citigroup downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy," while a series of analysts adjusted their price targets.
- The shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) are up 9.8% in electronic trading, after the online retailer's fourth-quarter results beat. To follow, no fewer than 14 analysts hiked up their price targets. Up 55.1% year-over-year coming into today's trading, today's pop will have the stock nearing its July record highs.
- Align Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ALGN) is up 10.8% ahead of the open, after the company's fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat estimates. To follow, no fewer than seven analysts chimed in with price-target hikes, including Piper Sandler to $700. Coming into today, the Invisalign maker's stock is up 112.9% year-over-year.
- Today, unit labor costs, factory orders, and productivity data will be released.
Stocks Make Moves Overseas
Asian markets were lower on Thursday, even after news broke that Apple (AAPL) is close to wrapping up an agreement with Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors to develop an autonomous electric vehicle. Despite sizeable gains from both automakers, the South Korean Kospi dropped 1.4%. Elsewhere, the Japanese Nikkei was down 1.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively.
Stocks are mixed across the pond, as European investors digest earnings reports from giants Unilever (UL) and Deutsche Bank (DB), and continue to monitor the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier in the day, the Bank of England (BoE) announced it would not make changes to its monetary policy after its first meeting of the year, holding its main lending rate at 0.1%, while adding that British banks will need months to prepare for a move to negative interest rates. Nonetheless, London’s FTSE 100 is down 0.2%, while the German DAX and the French CAC 40 are both up 0.4%.