DJIA futures are higher as stocks continue to react to the Fed's announcement
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are higher, as
quadruple-witching Friday kicks off with the Dow on track for a sixth straight weekly win and eyes on the
key 20,000 level. Stocks continue to react to Wednesday's Fed rate hike and forecast for 2017, and are shrugging off a steeper-than-expected drop in November housing starts.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are nearly 47 points above fair value.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 893,624 call contracts traded on Thursday, compared to 527,194 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.59, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.59.
- Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is set to drop 2.4% at the open -- likely to some cheering from option bears -- after the company delivered a mixed earnings report, with revenue coming in below expectations. The software stock also received a round of mixed analyst attention, with Wedbush and UBS issuing price-target hikes to $42 and $45, while BMO and Stifel trimmed their target prices to $45 and $44, respectively.
- Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AGIO) is down 17.8% in electronic trading, after announcing it had halted development on one of its blood disorder drugs, due to safety concerns. As a result, Janney cut its fair value target to $44 from $51.
- Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE:JBL) is poised to pop 9.1% at the bell, after the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) supplier delivered stronger-than-expected earnings, along with an upbeat fiscal second-quarter forecast. JBL has also received no fewer than four price-target hikes, including a hike to $28 from $27 by UBS. A number of short sellers could find themselves increasingly underwater as JBL jumps higher.
- The week wraps up today with a speech from Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker. As for economic data, November housing starts and the Baker-Hughes rig count will be released. There are no major earnings reports slated for release.
Overseas Trading
A wild day in the currency markets mostly supported stocks in Asia, even as gold miners sold off. Amid a rising dollar, the yuan reached its lowest level in over eight years, helping the Shanghai Composite to a 0.2% gain. Meanwhile, a weaker yen boosted Japan's Nikkei 0.7% to fresh annual highs and a ninth straight win, as financial stocks bound higher. Rounding things out, South Korea's Kospi tacked on 0.3% despite a bird flu warning, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng sat out the positive session, slipping 0.2%.
European markets are mostly higher, with sharp gains among pharmaceutical stocks offsetting a down day for mining and bank shares. In particular, recently spurned Actelion is booming after Bloomberg reported the drugmaker is in advanced talks with Sanofi about a potential acquisition. Drilling deeper, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.2%, the German DAX has added 0.3%, and France's CAC 40 is 0.4% higher.
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