Trading activity today is sluggish after Wall Street's best month of 2024
Despite a strong November finish, stock futures are struggling for direction to kick off December. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are near breakeven at last check, after the two benchmarks scored their best month of 2024 and closed at fresh record highs. Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are inching higher, as traders look ahead to construction spending and manufacturing data slated for release later today, before this week's batch of labor readings.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 1.3 million call contracts and more than 779,464 put contracts exchanged on Friday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.56 and the 21-day moving average remained at 0.62.
- Gap Inc (NYSE:GAP) stock is up 4.8% premarket, following an upgrade from J.P. Morgan Securities to "overweight" from "neutral" and a price target hike to $30 from $28. The analyst cited multiple catalysts, and noted the retailer could see more than 20% upside. GAP is up 16% this year.
- Electric vehicle (EV) stock Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is up 2.1% in electronic trading, after its vice president of AI software shared on social media that version 13 of the company's “Full Self-Driving” software is being rolled out to some customers. Plus, Roth MKM upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral." TSLA is up 38.9% in 2024.
- Shares of toymaker Hasbro Inc (NASDAQ:HAS) are up 1.5% before the bell, as traders monitor Black Friday sales results. Stifel noted its board games seemed to be popular among consumers. HAS already sports a 40.4% year-over-year lead.
- There's a flood of economic data scheduled for this week.
Asian, European Markets Respond to Economic Data
Asian markets closed mostly in the black, with a heavy bout of economic data on deck for the week. China’s manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) for November marked its highest reading since April, at 50.3, while new home prices rose 2.4% year over year. In South Korea, preliminary trade data came in at its slowest pace since September 2023, while exports saw a 1.4% year-over-year pop for last month. In response, China’s Shanghai Composite grew 1.1%, Japan’s Nikkei added 0.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tacked on 0.7%, and South Korea’s Kospi finished flat.
Across the pond indexes are moving higher, with France’s CAC 40 up 0.4%, as the region eyes budget updates. Euro zone and U.K. manufacturing sector activity data showed a decline for October, while the European Union (EU) maintained a steady pace of 6.3%. At last glance, London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.4% and Germany’s DAX is 1.3% higher.