Investors are eager for clues about the Fed's rate hike stance
Stock futures are slowly moving higher today, as Wall Street tries to recover from from the bond yield selloff. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are indicating a triple-digit open, while S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 (NDX) futures are trading around fair value, as the 10-year Treasury yield cools slightly. Oil prices are moving higher though, amid reports that Iran will eye military targets in Europe if the U.S. escalates the conflict. All eyes will be on the Fed minutes released later today, with clues about the interest rate hike rhetoric centerstage.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White: VIX call spikes is not a good sign.
- Lots of reasons to like Carrier Global stock.
- Plus, Moderna's cancer breakthrough; two post-earnings reactions to monitor.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Option Exchange saw roughly 2.4 million call contracts and 1.6 million put contracts traded on Tuesday, the most in over a month. The single-session equity put/call ratio spiked to 0.64, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.59.
- Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock is pointed 60% higher before the bell, after the drugmaker reported experimental cancer vaccine with Merck (MRK) met the primary and late-stage trials. MRK is up 6% ahead of the bell. Moderna stock is up 113% in 2026, but is now set to open at its highest level since 2024.
- Lowe's Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW) stock is 3.3% lower ahead of the open. While the home improvement retailer reported a second-quarter earnings beat, revenue and full-year guidance both fell short of estimates. LOW is off by 10.5% year to date heading into today.
- The shares of Keysight Technology Inc (NYSE:KEYS) are 0.9% higher in electronic trading, after the company reported a beat-and-raise in the earnings confessional. Three analysts hiked their price targets in response, the best coming from Susquehanna to $440. KEYS is up 68% in 2026 heading into today.
- More Dow names are ready to report earnings this week.
UK CPI tops BoE Forecasts
Stocks in Asia finished sharply lower on Wednesday, with chip weakness and surging bond yields weighing on sentiment. Japan's Nikkei fell 3.2%, while South Korea's Kospi plunged 5.8%. China's Shanghai Composite shed 2.4%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng bucked the trend with a 0.09% gain. Notably, China-based Baidu (BIDU) tumbled 12.5% after quarterly revenue missed estimates amid weak advertising demand.
European markets are mixed at midday, as investors also monitor rising yields and inflation concerns. London's FTSE 100 is down 0.03% after U.K. annual consumer prices index (CPI) rose to 2.9% in July from 2.6% in June, matching economists' expectations but topping the Bank of England's (BoE) 2.8% forecast. The British pound rose 0.14% against the U.S. dollar following the report. France's CAC 40 is up 0.4%, while Germany's DAX is down 0.1%. Euro zone government bond yields continued to climb to multi-year highs, while rising oil prices added to the pressure.