The producer price index came in hotter-than-expected for July
Stock futures are struggling for direction this morning. Investors are digesting the latest round of jobless data, which met Wall Street's estimates of 375,000 initial claims for the week. They are also brushing off a 0.9% jump in the producer price index for July, compared to the 0.5% estimate. Fresh off a record close and a string of triple-digit moves, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are marginally higher this morning, while S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are drifting into the red.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- One big-name energy stock that enjoyed a post-earnings bounce.
- The red-hot auto stock destined for even more record highs.
- Plus, Palantir stock pops on sales jump; what's hurting EBAY today; and SONO posts surprise quarterly profits.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.5 million call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 835,455 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.52 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.52.
- Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) is surging today, up 9.3% in electronic trading, after the software name reported second-quarter revenue that beat analysts' estimates. The company attributed the upbeat results to a 49% rise in sales from the previous year. Over the past 12 months, Palantir Technologies stock is up over 55%.
- The shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) are down 2.1% ahead of the bell, despite the e-commerce staple posting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. What could be hurting eBay instead is a decline in active buyers, as well as a current-quarter revenue forecast that missed the mark. eBay stock hit record high of $74.13 on July 29, though, and has added 42.6% in the last nine months.
- Audio products name and 2021 pick Sonos Inc (NASDAQ: SONO) is up 9.9% ahead of the open, after the company posted surprise second-quarter profits of 12 cents per share, as opposed to the losses of 17 cents per share Wall Street anticipated. Plus, the firm provided upbeat current-quarter and full-year forecasts. Year-to-date, however, SONO is off 36.2%.
- The rest of the day is quiet in terms of economic data.
Rising Covid-19 Infections Weigh on Asian, European Markets
In stark contrast with yesterday’s record highs stateside, stocks in Asia closed the Thursday lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng turned in the biggest loss, shedding 0.5%, after Chinese electric vehicle maker Li Auto (LI) dipped nearly 2% in its Hong Kong public trading debut. South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.4%, following news that the country set a new daily record of more than 2,200 Covid-19 cases while a warning from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed global cases could pass 300 million by early 2022. Rounding out the region, China’s Shanghai Composite and Japan’s Nikkei each gave back 0.2%.
European markets, meanwhile, are mixed, as the worsening Covid-19 situation overshadowed upbeat inflation readings in the U.S. Data out of the U.K. showed gross domestic product (GDP) grew more-than-expected in the region, but still hovers just over 2% below pre-pandemic levels. At last check, the German DAX is up 0.4%, the CAC 40 in France sports a 0.3%, and London’s FTSE 100 is 0.2% lower.