The bond market is cheering the pro-equity pick
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is up 397 points this afternoon, eyeing a fourth-straight gain. The blue-chip index also notched a fresh record high alongside the S&P 500 (SPX), which is currently on track for its sixth consecutive win, while the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) sports a triple-digit lead of its own. Investors are enjoying a cooling bond market, after President-elect Donald Trump tapped hedge fund manager Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary.
At last check, the 10-year Treasury yield was down at 4.3%, while the U.S. dollar index is pulling back as well. Wall Street is also monitoring retail earnings this week ahead of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, while October’s personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index looms Wednesday.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Analyst names Target stock a "top pick."
- Fellow retail stock surges after beat-and-raise.
- Plus, KSS pops before earnings; MRNA extends bounce; and defense stock gaps lower on ceasefire talks.
Kohl's Corp (NYSE:KSS) is seeing unusual options activity ahead of the retailer's third-quarter results due out before the market opens tomorrow. So far today, 50,000 calls and 41,000 puts have traded hands, which is 10 times the volume typically seen at this point. New positions are being opened at the most active contract, the weekly 11/29 180-strike call. The stock was last seen up 9.6% to trade at $18.66, pacing for its best single-day percentage gain since May and a third-straight win. KSS is bouncing off its Nov. 20, four-year closing low of $16.40, but carries a 35.9% year-to-date deficit.
Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) is among the SPX's leaders today, up 10.1% to trade at $45.26 at last check. The stock is brushing off a price-target cut from RBC to $50 from $62, as it rallies off its Nov. 14, four-year low of $35.80, which followed the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. MRNA remains down 54.9% this year, but could today notch its third-consecutive daily gain.
Underperforming the SPX today is
Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE:LMT), down 4.5% to trade at $517.48 at last glance and looking to snap a four-day win streak. The defense stock is gapping lower amid reports that Israel is moving closer to a Lebanon ceasefire. The shares are trading at their lowest level since July, after
two recent rallies ran into pressure from the 20-day moving average. LMT still sports a 14.3% lead.
