Futures on the Dow are sporting a roughly 40-point lead
Stocks are struggling for direction this morning, with futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) set for a 37-point lead at last check, while S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are flat. An impressive earnings report from Goldman Sachs (GS) is helping the blue-chip index stay afloat, while Wall Street digests corporate earnings from several other major bank names. Meanwhile, retail sales for March grew 0.5%, just barely missing analysts' estimated 0.6% growth.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- What went wrong with JPMorgan Chase stock after earnings.
- Everything traders should know about the iron butterfly strategy.
- Plus, Nio to gradually resume production; Citigroup's top- and bottom-line beat; and Twitter investors to sue Elon Musk.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 1.3 million call contracts traded on Wednesday, and 661,416 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.51, and the 21-day moving average remained at 0.57.
- The shares of electric vehicle maker Nio Inc - ADR (NYSE:NIO) are down 1.2% ahead of the bell, following the firm's announcement that its facility near Shanghai will gradually resume production. This comes after its announcement Saturday that production in the region would be suspended due to a recent Covid-19 outbreak. It's been a rough six months for the EV name, which has shed over 43% in that time period.
- Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) is climbing higher ahead of the open, last seen up 0.7% after the banking name's first-quarter earnings of $2.02 per share and revenue of $19.9 billion both topped analysts' estimates; its profit for the quarter, however, fell 46% to $4.3 billion. Citigroup stock has lost roughly 17% in 2022.
- Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is back in the spotlight after a group of its investors announced they were suing Elon Musk on allegations that the Tesla (TSLA) founder failed to disclose his purchase of a significant stake in Twitter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) within the allotted timeframe. TWTR was last seen up 6.8% in premarket trading, and it sports a year-to-date lead of 6.1%.
- The pace picks back up on today, with initial and continuing jobless claims scheduled. Business inventories and the import price index will come out as well, while the University of Michigan will release its consumer sentiment index for April, and five-year inflation expectations.
European Markets Look Toward ECB Decision
Markets in Asia finished higher today, as China continues to grapple with surging Covid-19 cases. China's Shanghai Composite and Japan's Nikkei both added 1.2%, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng rose 0.7%. After news that the Bank of Korea will hike its base rate by 25 basis points to 1.5%, the South Korean Kospi inched 0.1% higher.
European markets are also tentatively higher midday, as investors await the latest policy decision from the European Central Bank (ECB). London's FTSE 100 is up 0.04%, while the French CAC 40 and German DAX have added 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively.