Retail sales and import prices are among today's indicators
Wall Street has a slew of economic data to unpack this morning, with jobless claims coming in above analysts' expectations, retail sales data for May showing a surprise rise, and import prices pulling in lower than anticipated. In addition, the Philadelphia and Empire State manufacturing indexes for June were higher than analysts' estimates.
Though the Federal Reserve yesterday decided not to hike interest rates, Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned another two rate hikes could still happen this year. At last check, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX), and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are all pointed firmly below breakeven.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.9 million call contracts and over 1.4 million put contacts exchanged on Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.74 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.68.
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Citi upgraded
Corning Incorporated(NYSE:GLW) to "buy" from "neutral" and raised its price target to $40 from $36, noting the tech name's strong potential for
margin recovery. The security is up 1.7% in premarket trading, and sports a modest 2023 lead.
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Target Corp (NYSE:TGT) announced earlier it will be hiking dividends to $1.10 per share, or 1.9%. The
retail stock is up 1% before the bell, but has shed nearly 20% quarter-to-date.
- Domino's Pizza Inc (NYSE:DPZ) is up 2.4% ahead of the open, after scoring an upgrade from Stifel to "buy" from "hold." The brokerage firm said delivery sales will stabilize as carry-out sales grow in the next year. DPZ is off 18.9% in the past 12 months.
- Industrial production data and business inventories are also on tap today.
European Markets Mostly Lower After Rate Hike
Markets in Asia finished the day on both sides of the aisle. Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.05%, as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led the gainers with a 2.2% win, while China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.7%, and the South Korean Kospi lost 0.4%. The People’s Bank of China cut the borrowing costs of its medium-term policy loans for the first time in 10 months. Plus, China’s new home prices rose 0.1% year-over-year, while exports fell 7.5% in May, and imports dropped 4.5%. Japan’s exports rose 0.6% year-over-year last month, compared to the 0.8% decline anticipated by analysts, while imports fell a smaller-than-expected 9.9%. Lastly, Japan’s trade deficit fell 42% year-over-year to 1.37 billion yen.
The European Central Bank (ECB) just raised rates by 25 basis points, taking its main rate to 3.5%. London’s FTSE 100 is inching 0.1% higher midday, while the German DAX falls 0.8%, and the French CAC 40 drops 0.7% .