Earnings from JNJ and TRV are out this morning
Coming off a fourth straight weekly win, U.S. stocks are indicating a lower open this morning. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are trading more than 100 points below fair value, as traders consider earnings from blue chips Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Travelers Companies (TRV), with IBM (IBM) set to report after the bell. Despite the heavy earnings slate, there will be plenty of other headlines vying for Wall Street's attention, including the World Economic Forum currently underway in Davos and the ongoing government shutdown.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
5 Things You Need to Know Today
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The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.66 million call contracts traded on Friday, compared to 895,294 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio moved up to 0.54 and the 21-day moving average edged down 0.68.
- Tobacco giant Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO) and Budweiser parent Anheuser Busch Inbev NV (NYSE:BUD) both received analyst attention this morning, as shares of both companies have fallen hard on the charts in the past year -- even as they've made major investments in the cannabis industry. While MO stock was downgraded to "underweight" at Morgan Stanley, BUD was named a "top pick" at RBC.
- As for other notable analyst notes, Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was upgraded to "outperform" from "market perform" at Cowen, which set a $90 price target. NKE shares on Friday notched their highest close since early October, continuing their push higher from a December bottom of $66.53.
- eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) is in focus this morning after hedge fund Elliott Management wrote a letter urging the company to consider a restructuring plan that it believes could double its value. EBAY stock has underperformed tremendously in the past year, falling 22%, but is set to add 12% at the open -- suggesting the online auction site could continue its seasonal trend as one of the best S&P stocks during the post-MLK week.
- Today traders will digest existing home sales data. Capital One (COF), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), Halliburton (HAL), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), Steel Dynamics (STLD), and UBS AG (UBS) are all reporting earnings.
Growth Fears Weigh on Asian Markets
It was a lower finish in Asia on fresh growth concerns out of Beijing. Following Monday's release of data that showed the Chinese economy grew last year at its slowest pace since 1990, President Xi Jinping reportedly told officials to be alert for "major risks" like "black swans" and "grey rhinos." Downwardly revised global growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020 from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are only exacerbating the anxiety. Against this backdrop, China's Shanghai Composite fell 1.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gave back 0.7%, Japan's Nikkei slumped 0.5%, and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.3% after a report showed the country's gross domestic product (GDP) decelerating in 2018 to its slowest growth rate in six years.
European markets are trading in negative territory at midday, with bank stocks struggling after an earnings miss from Swiss lender UBS, and energy shares lower with Brent crude futures. At last check, London's FTSE 100 and the German DAX are flirting with 0.5% declines, while the French CAC 40 is off 0.6%.