All three major benchmarks are confidently higher before the bell
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are up triple-digits ahead of the open, while S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 (NDX) futures inch higher as well. Debt ceiling negotiations appear to be progressing, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy noting a possible deal by the end of the week. Meanwhile, U.S. housing starts rose 2.2% in April to an annual pace of 1.4 million.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White unpacked the SPX's V-shaped rally.
- How options traders played Home Depot earnings.
- Plus, WAL's deposit growth; an EVgo stock offering; and KEYS' post-earnings pop.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.2 million call contracts and 838,930 put contracts exchanged on Tuesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.68 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.75.
- Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) is up 11.4% premarket, after the firm stated that its current-quarter deposit growth has exceeded $2 billion as of May 12. Plus, BofA Global researched resumed coverage with a "buy" rating and $42 price target. Heading into today, WAL is down 47% year-to-date.
- EVgo Inc (NASDAQ:EVGO) is down 10.1% before the bell, shrugging off a new "buy" rating from Stifel, after the electric vehicle (EV) charging name announced $125 million offering of its common stock. Year-to-date, the equity is up 28.2%.
- Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) is up 8.1% in electronic trading, after the tech company's better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and fiscal third-quarter forecast. Since the start of the year, KEYS is down 14.4%.
- Here is what to watch for economic data this week.
Chinese Yuan Weakens
Asian markets were mixed Wednesday, as investors assessed U.S. economic data and President Joe Biden ended his Asia trip early in order to move forward with debt ceiling negotiations. In Japan, the economy posted a 1.6% first-quarter growth. The region’s Nikkei jumped 0.8% and topped the psychologically significant 30,000 mark, after stocks in the country hit their highest level in more than three decades. South Korea’s Kospi, meanwhile, added 0.6%. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 2.1%, while China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.2%, after new home prices fell and the yuan weakened against the greenback.
Stocks in Europe are also mixed, as traders in the region await movement in U.S. debt ceiling talks. At last glance, London’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 are both marginally lower, while Germany’s DAX is up 0.4%.