A 25 basis-point rate cut later this week appears to be baked into the market
Stock futures are cautiously higher this morning, with Wall Street trying to build off a second consecutive winning week. Tech stocks are indicating a solid open, with IBM (IBM), Oracle (ORCL), and Broadcom (AVGO) notable movers this morning. As investors look ahead to this week's interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve, CME's FedWatch tool is pricing in an 89.6% chance of a 25 basis-point rate cut, rising significantly from a month ago. In the meantime, there are still some corporate earnings to unpack this week.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange saw over 3 call contracts and more than 1.3 million put contracts exchanged on Friday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.43, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.58.
- Confluent Inc (NASDAQ:CFLT) stock is soaring, up 29.1% in premarket trading, after The Wall Street Journal reported IBM (IBM) will acquire the data streaming name in an all-cash deal worth $11 billion. Should these gains hold, the equity will break into positive territory for 2025.
- Five Below Inc (NASDAQ:FIVE) is 1.9% higher before the bell, after Truist upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold," with a price-target hike to $216 from $179, citing upside potential due to sales growth. Since the start of the year, FIVE is up 65%.
- AI cloud computing stock CoreWeave Inc (NASDAQ:CRWV) is down 4.2% in electronic trading, after the company announced a $2 billion convertible debt offering. Publicly traded since late March, the security is down 35.5% since the start of this quarter.
- See what's coming up this week aside from rate-cut buzz.
Asian Markets Unpack Flood of Data
Markets in Asia saw mixed price action to kick off the week, with economic data out of region moving into focus. Exports out of China saw a higher-than-expected 5.9% rise in November, though output to the U.S. fell 28.6% despite the tariff truce. Meanwhile, the country’s rare earths exports increased 24% year-on-year to 5,494 tons. In Japan, Tokyo released revised third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data for July though September, which showed a larger-than-anticipated fall of 2.3%. For the session, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was the only loser, falling 1.2%. China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.5%, South Korea’s Kospi popped 1.3%, and Japan’s Nikkei climbed 0.2%.
European traders are eyeing the U.S. Fed meeting slated for Wednesday, sending stocks to either side of the aisle. The region is also expecting updates from the Bank of England (BoE) and European Central Bank (ECB) next week, with the latter expected to keep rates unchanged. At last check, London’s FTSE 100 is off 0.02%, France’s CAC 40 is 0.1% lower, and Germany’s DAX is up 0.3%.