Dow futures are lower this morning
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are lower after the Fed's favorite inflation gauge, the core personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE), came in lower-than-expected, up 3.2% year over year. Wall Street's rally still looks strong, however, as the major benchmarks pace for their eighth-straight positive week. Elsewhere, Nasdaq-100 (NDX) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are flat, as investors look towards a long weekend with Christmas on Monday.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Wedbush had a lot to say about the restaurant sector yesterday.
- What investors are looking toward ahead of the New Year.
- Plus, Nike's cost-cutting measures; X's acquisition scrutiny; and Berkshire Hathaway's favorite oil stock.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.1 million call contracts and 661,058 put contracts traded Thursday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.58, and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.69.
- Blue-chip apparel retailer and manufacturer Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) revealed a three-year cost-cutting plan. Specifically, Nike will cut $2 billion in costs because it expects sales to soften in the latter half of 2024. What's more, the company's fiscal second-quarter revenue was worse than expected for the first time since 2016. Last seen down 11.7% in electronic trading, NKE is looking to breach its year-to-date breakeven mark.
- United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) is under fire this morning, after the White House said its $14.1 billion acquisition by Japan's Nippon Steel deserves "serious scrutiny" due to national security and supply chains concerns. Down 0.8% before the bell, X has still almost doubled in 2023.
- Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE:OXY) are 0.8% higher premarket and looking to cut into a 4% year-to-date deficit. The equity is looking to move higher after Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) increased its stake to 27.7% by purchasing 5.2 million shares of OXY, bringing its total to 243.7 million.
- Investors will parse plenty of economic data before the short Christmas week.
Japan's Inflation Flashes Slowest Growth Since Mid-2022
Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday, despite Japan’s inflation rate dropping to 2.8% in October – the slowest growth since July 2022. Investors also digested the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) meeting minutes, which pointed to debates among officials over their stance on yield control. Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi settled on opposite sides of breakeven with 0.09% gain and 0.02% loss, respectively. Meanwhile, China’s Shanghai Composite shed 0.1%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 1.7% lower.
European stocks are muted, as investors eye stateside inflation data and digest news that the U.K. is approaching technical recession. London’s FTSE 100 closed early with a modest 0.04% gain, France’s CAC 40 is also up 0.04%, and the German DAX is 0.07% higher.