Stock Futures Shaky as Economic Data Rolls In

The U.S. trade gap widened last month

Deputy Editor

Mar 28, 2023 at 9:20 AM

Stock futures are inching lower, as investors unpack a host of economic data. The U.S. trade deficit in goods rose 0.6% in February, while wholesale inventories inched 0.2% higher, and retail inventories climbed 0.8%. The S&P Case-Shiller home price index dropped 0.4%, logging its 7th consecutive monthly drop. U.S. consumer confidence data is also due out later this morning.

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Futures Mar28

5 Things You Need to Know Today

The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1 million call contracts and 731,288 put contracts traded on Monday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.67 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.79.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is up 9.6% premarket, after the China-based e-commerce name announced plans to split into six different businesses. Should these gains hold, BABA will jump back above its year-to-date breakeven mark.
Rideshare stock Lyft Inc (NASDAQ:LYFT) is up 5.2% before the bell, after news that former Amazon.com (AMZN) executive David Risher will soon be taking over as CEO, as co-founders CEO Logan Green and President John Zimmer step down. Year-to-date, LYFT is down 12.9%.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) is up 1.6% in electronic trading, after the blue-chip pharmaceutical giant's strong fiscal second-quarter results. Year-over-year, WBA is down 30% heading into today.
Today will also bring the FHFA home price and U.S. consumer confidence indexes.

Stocks Higher Overseas as Banks Stabilize

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Tuesday, as banking sector fears once again subsided. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and South Korea’s Kospi each added 1.1%, with the latter enjoying tailwinds from a rise in defense stocks amid North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s calls to ramp up production of weapons-grade nuclear material. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.2% after the country’s deal with the U.S. to trade electric vehicle (EV) battery minerals, and China’s Shanghai Composite shed 0.2%.

European markets are also higher, though investors remain cautious amid volatility. Inflation data for the U.K. is in focus, with shop prices rising at a record high of 8.9% annually in March. At last glance, the German DAX and France’s CAC 40 are both up 0.2%, and London’s FTSE 100 is 0.1% higher.

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