The Dow is also looking to score a solid monthly gain
All three major benchmarks are looking to wrap up July with strong monthly wins. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is up 40 points at midday, while the S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are also higher as they pace for their fifth-straight positive month. Hopes of a soft economic landing are injecting positivity into the market, as Wall Street eyes earnings from Apple (AAPL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) later this week, in addition to jobs data.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Analyst praises Palantir Technologies' AI prowess.
- Wayfair stock surging on pre-earnings bull notes.
- Plus, beat-and-raise props up SOFI; Goodrx stock upgraded; and why this EV stock is cooling off.
Options traders are swarming
SoFi Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SOFI) today, with 477,000 calls and 157,000 across the tape so far, or seven times the average intraday volume. The weekly 8/4 11.50-strike call is the most active contract, with new positions opening there. The
personal finance concern earlier bested second-quarter revenue estimates and raised its annual outlook, with shares last seen up 22.4% to trade at a fresh one-year high of $11.69. Year-to-date, SOFI is up a whopping 149.1%.
Goodrx Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:GDRX) is up 29.6% at $8.75 at last check, leading the Nasdaq. Today's bull gap came after TD Cowen upgrade the equity to "outperform" from "market perform," and raised its price target from $6.50 to $12. The shares are trading at their highest level in almost a year, as they bounce off support from their 20-day moving average. GRDX is up 87.6% in 2023.
Conversely,
Xpeng Inc (NYSE:XPEV) is one of the worst stocks on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Shares are down 13.6% to trade at $20.19 at last check, following a downgrade from UBS to "neutral" from "buy." The $20 region is ready to contain today's pullback, as shares pull back from a rally that
fell short of the $24 mark. Over the past nine months, XPEV has added 204.8%.