All three indexes are on track for weekly wins
Wall Street is looking to extend Thursday's gains into Friday, with stock futures eyeing a higher open following another release of upbeat bank earnings. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are modestly higher, eyeing a record open after yesterday surpassing the 34,000 threshold. Also on pace to capture fresh record highs is the S&P 500 Index (SPX), while the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) follows closely behind. Even further, all three indexes are on track for solid weekly gains.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- The tobacco giant extending its steady chart growth.
- Why you shouldn't sweat this bank stock pullback.
- Plus, a surging tech giant; bank stock dinged by post-earnings dip; and United Airlines stock upgraded.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw roughly 1.9 million call contracts traded on Thursday, and 912,716 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.48 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.46.
- Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is up 1.5% in premarket trading after Wolfe Research upped its rating on the tech stock to "outperform." The analyst cited strong IT spending could prove to be a tailwind moving forward. Over the past 12 months, CSCO has climbed 23.3%.
- Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) are down 1.3% in pre-market trading, despite the financial giant reporting better-than-expected earnings. The company posted earnings per share of $2.19, higher on upbeat bond trading results. Ahead of today's pullback, MS is up 17% year-to-date.
- United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) is up 0.5% in electronic trading after receiving a bull note from Argus. The brokerage upgraded to "buy" from "hold," admiring the company's plans for restructuring to return to pre-pandemic levels. In 2021, the equity has enjoyed long-term support from the 40-day moving average.
- The week wraps up with building permits and housing starts data, as well as the preliminary consumer sentiment index.
Economic Data Sends Asian Markets Surging
Stocks in Asia finished today's session higher, after a myriad of economic data from China. China's gross domestic product (GDP) jumped 18.3% in the first three months of the year, which was just barely lower than analysts' anticipated 19% tally, while retail sales beat expectations with a 34.2% pop, and industrial production missed expectations – rising 14.1% in March. In response, China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.8%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng tacked on 0.6%. Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei added 0.2%, while the South Korean Kospi jumped 0.1%.
In Europe, shares are on an upward trend as well, as investors eye economic data across the pond, including euro zone inflation rising 0.9% for March. London's FTSE 100 and the French CAC 40 are both up 0.5% midday, while the German DAX remains up 1.1% on the back of a post-earnings surge from auto giant Daimler.