All three major indexes are quietly higher this morning
Stock futures are inching higher once again, with Wall Street ready to build off yesterday's record closes from the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Last week's rate-cut optimism has carried over into the start of this week, though since the decision, some Fed officials have given mixed remarks on how to proceed with rate cuts. Investors are also monitoring the S&P Case-Shiller home price index, which rose 5% in July but below estimates and lower than the 5.5% growth for June.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- S&P 500 bull signal has plenty of fuel, says Senior V.P. of Research Todd Salamone.
- Broadcom stock popular amongst call traders.
- Plus, two analyst notes to watch; and Visa dips as lawsuit looms.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 1.7 million call contracts and 834,787 put contracts exchanged on Monday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.49 and the 21-day moving average remained at 0.65.
- Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:SBUX) stock is down 0.5% premarket after receiving a downgrade from Jefferies to "underperform" from "hold," with a price-target cut to $76 from $80. Since the start of the year, the coffee giant is down less than 1%.
- Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) stock is up 2% before the bell, after the tech name was upgraded by Piper Sandler to "overweight" from "neutral," with a price-target hike to $325 from $268. The firm cited a favorable risk/reward profile for the customer relationship management firm. Year to date, CRM is up 0.4% heading into today.
- Shares of Visa Inc (NYSE:V) are down 2.3% in electronic trading, after Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) is planning to file a monopoly lawsuit against the company. Year to date, the equity is up 10.9%.
- What's coming up this week on Wall Street.
Asia Markets Jump on China Stimulus
Markets in Asia enjoyed healthy gains today, as investors took in the People’s Bank of China’s decision to cut the reserve requirement ratio 50 basis points and the seven-day reverse purchase rate to 1.5%. South Korea’s Kospi logged a 1.1% win -- its sixth-consecutive daily gain -- while Japan’s Nikkei added 0.6%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 4.1% for its best day in more than seven months. China’s Shanghai Composite closed up an impressive 4.2%.
Things are looking up in Europe as well, with investors feeding off China’s stimulus update and a boost in auto stocks. At last glance, London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.3%, France’s CAC 40 has added 1.3%, and Germany’s DAX is 0.6% higher.