This week's interest rate-cut buzz that sent stocks to record highs is wearing off
Wall Street is fairly quiet this morning, as this week's rate-cut buzz begins to fade. Following yesterday's market surge that saw fresh record highs for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and S&P 500 Index (SPX), futures on the blue-chip index are cautiously higher ahead of the open, while futures on the other two major benchmarks dip into the red. Heading into today, all three indexes are headed for their second consecutive weekly gains.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- 2 crypto stocks enjoying the risk-on environment.
- Gold stock outperforming amid broad-market tailwinds.
- Plus, Nike CEO retires; CEG starts up nuclear plant; and MLKN earnings disappoint.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 2.1 million call contracts and more than 1.6 million put contracts exchanged on Thursday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.77 and the 21-day moving average remained at 0.65.
- Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) stock is up 7.8% premarket, after the athletic retailer announced CEO John Donahoe was retiring and will be replaced by Elliott Hill amid corporate restructuring. Year to date, the Dow stock is down 25.4% heading into today.
- FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) stock is 13% lower before the bell, after the shipping giant reported a significant decline in profits for the first quarter, as well as a trimmed full-year guidance. Morgan Stanley responded with a downgrade to "underweight" from "equal-weight," while five other brokerages chimed in with price-target cuts. FedEx stock was up nearly 19% heading into today.
- Shares of MillerKnoll Inc (NASDAQ:MLKN) are down 5% before the bell, after the furniture name's disappointing fiscal first-quarter results and weak guidance. Should these losses hold, MLKN will dip into the red for the year.
- What's coming up next week on Wall Street.
Japan Keeps Rates Unchanged
Asian markets closed in the black today, with all eyes on the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) decision to keep interest rates steady at 0.25%. Also in Japan, August’s consume price index (CPI) added 2.8% year over year, while in China lending rates remained stagnant at 3.35% and 3.85% for the one- and five-year loans, respectively. For the day, Japan’s Nikkei added 1.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.4%, South Korea’s Kospi tacked on 0.5%, and China’s Shanghai Composite inched 0.03% above breakeven.
The recent slew of interest rate news alongside a slump in the auto sector are sending European markets lower today. Brushing off U.K. retail sales that moved above expectations in August, London’s FTSE 100 is off 0.8%, France’s CAC 40 is down 0.7%, and Germany’s DAX has shed 0.6% at last glance.