The three major benchmarks are looking to snap a three-week losing streak
Stock futures are on the rise this morning, with the major indexes looking to snap a three-week losing streak. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are up 240 points ahead of the open, while futures on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) sit firmly in the black as well. Investors are still unpacking the latest round of hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Elsewhere, Bitcoin (BTC) rallied back above the significant $20,000 level, after Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler said he would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority to regulate non-security cryptocurrencies.
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5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.2 million call contracts traded on Thursday, and 789,926 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to to 0.65, while the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.66.
- DocuSign Inc (NASDAQ:DOCU) is surging ahead of the open, last seen up 16.5% and looking to take a chunk out of its 62% year-to-date deficit. The e-signature company last night reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenue, third-quarter revenue guidance that beat estimates, and a full-year outlook that fell in line with analysts' forecasts.
- Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:SPCE) is 2.7% lower premarket, following a bear note from Bernstein. The broker downgraded SPCE to "underperform" and lowered its price target to $4, after noting it lacks confidence in the business as the company continues to delay commerical flights and exorbitant cash spending. Coming into today, Virgin Galactic stock was 75.3% lower in the last 12 months.
- Barclays downgraded Navient Corp (NASDAQ:NAVI) to "equal weight," noting the negative impact U.S. President Joe Biden's debt forgiveness plan could have on the student load servicer. NAVI is 2.1% lower before the bell, and about to add to its 29.3% year-to-date losses.
- The holiday-shortened week will wrap up with a wholesale inventories revision today.
Europe Reacts to Queen Elizabeth II's Passing
Asian markets settled higher on Friday, as traders unpacked China’s cooling consumer inflation reading of 2.5% for August, down from 2.7% in July. Also in focus were comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who remains committed to fighting inflation “until the job is done” with aggressive interest rate hikes. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led the gainers with a 2.7% pop, and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.8%. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively.
European stocks are higher as well, following the European Central Bank’s (ECB) interest rate hike. Elsewhere, the Bank of England (BoE) postponed September’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting to next week, as the country mourns the death of Britain’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. At last glance, London’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 are both 1.4% higher, while the German DAX is up 1.3%.