The major benchmarks are mixed ahead of the open
Stock futures are mixed this morning, with the Nasdaq-100 (NDX) hoping to snap its multi-day losing streak. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and S&P 500 (SPX) futures are lingering below breakeven, as investors eye the U.S. consumer price index (CPI), which rose 0.4% for the month of September, and 5.4% year-over-year -- both 0.1% higher than Wall Street anticipated. Core CPI rose 4% for the year, which was in line with estimates. Elsewhere, news came that the U.S. will open its land borders to the fully vaccinated in November, as travel between Mexico and Canada has been largely restricted since the start of the pandemic.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- A look at low-priced vs. high-priced stocks, with Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White.
- Breaking down the benefits and drawbacks of investing in REITs.
- Plus, JPM reports earnings beat; QCOM's billion-dollar buyback plan; and PLUG plans "hydrogen hub."
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.6 million call contracts traded on Tuesday, compared to 667,732 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.41, and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.50.
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) announced an upbeat third-quarter report, as the bank capitalized on the surge in mergers and acquisitions globally. The firm reported profits of $3.75 per share, which is higher than analysts' anticipated $3.00, as well as better-than-expected revenue. At last check, JPM was up 0.5% pre-market.
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Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) is up 1.8% before the bell, after the chip stock announced a $10 billion share buyback program. Still on track for its sixth week of losses in the last seven weeks, QCOM is looking to bounce off familiar support at the $123 level.
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Surging in electronic trading, Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ:PLUG) is up 7.7% at last look. The company is partnering with Airbus (AIR) to study the possibility of bringing green hydrogen to future aircrafts and airports worldwide, and will select a U.S. airport as the first "hydrogen hub." Plus, Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "equal weight."
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Today will bring the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes.
Europe Unpacks Economic Indicators
Asian markets were mostly higher on Wednesday, with the exception of the Nikkei in Japan, which lost 0.3%, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng was shuttered for the day due to a typhoon warning alert. Of the remaining indexes, South Korea’s Kospi tacked on nearly 1%, and the Shanghai Composite in China rose 0.4% as investor digested imports data, which saw a slimmer-than-expected 17.6% year-over-year jump in September.
Over in Europe, the major indexes are trying to stage a comeback, though the London FTSE 100 is still slightly below breakeven with a 0.1% deficit. The French CAC 40, meanwhile, is up 0.3%, and the German DAX is 0.8% higher. European investors are attempting to brush off fears over global growth in the wake of yesterday’s news that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has turned less optimistic on the global economy in 2021, though a strong start to earnings season is keeping some of this soured sentiment in check. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s gross domestic product (GDP) reading for August was released, showing a slightly better-than-expected 6.9% year-over-year rise.