SPX and NDX futures are taking a breather this morning
Though December kicked off with more record highs, stock futures are struggling for direction this morning. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are all hovering near breakeven, as Wall Street looks ahead to the jobs openings report for October. Investors are also eyeing speeches from Fed officials as they await Salesforce (CRM) and Okta (OKTA) earnings after the close.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Time for buyers to manage risk with options, per Senior V.P. of Research Todd Salamone.
- These are the worst 25 stocks to own in December.
- Plus, CVS upgraded; Zscaler earnings in focus; and BlackRock's latest acquisition.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 1.9 million call contracts and more than 1.2 million put contracts exchanged Monday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.62 and the 21-day moving average remained at 0.62.
- Deutsche Bank upgraded CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) stock to "buy" from "hold" this morning, the analyst in coverage betting on a recovery for the embattled pharmacy retailer. CVS is up 1.1% premarket, but carries a steep 25.2% year-to-date deficit.
- The shares of Zscaler Inc (NASDAQ:ZS) are 7.2% lower in electronic trading, brushing off better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and several bull notes after the cloud company's forecast for the fiscal second quarter missed estimates. Shares are looking to extend their 5.9% year-to-date deficit.
- BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) stock is up 1% before the bell, after the investment company revealed an expansion to the credit space with its acquisition of HPS Investment Partners for $12 billion in stock. Over the past 12 months, BLK added 34.9%.
- There's a flood of economic data scheduled for this week.
European Markets Rise Despite Political Strife
Markets in Asia finished higher today, as investors looked to outperforming U.S. stocks and a bout of economic data due out of both regions this week. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.9%, after the country reported a year-over-year inflation increase to 1.5% in November, higher than October’s reading but lower than expectations. The yuan in China fell below 7.3 for the first time since the summer, sending the Shanghai Composite 0.4% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tacked on 1% and Japan’s Nikkei climbed an impressive 1.9%.
European stocks are also higher, as all eyes remain on France’s political strife, in which Prime Minister Michel Barnier pushed for approval of a contested budget bill, forgoing any parliament say. In the U.K., retail sales showed a year-over-year drop of 3.3% in November, its weakest performance since April. At last glance, London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.8%, France’s CAC 40 has added 0.4%, and Germany’s DAX is 0.2% in the black.