A C-suite shakeup has GOOGL in focus today
After the market spent the last three days swimming in red ink, Dow futures are poised for a triple-digit bounce-back today. A Bloomberg report cited sources that claimed the U.S. and China were making progress toward a "phase one" deal, assuaging concerns that tensions between the two sides had intensified. Elsewhere, investors are unpacking the latest ADP employment report, which showed private payrolls rose by a weak 67,000 in November, far short of the 150,000 consensus estimate.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- The Dow's not at new highs if you look beyond the dollar, according to Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White.
- These two stocks moved in opposite directions yesterday.
- Plus, Campbell Soup dinged by sales forecast; Mastercard increases quarterly dividend; and Alphabet's C-suite shakeup.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.00 million call contracts traded on Tuesday, compared to 704,555 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio edged up to 0.70, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.59.
- Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) stock is down 1.7% in electronic trading, after the packaged food titan cut its 2020 organic sales forecast. This is overshadowing the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings beat. CPB is up 44% in 2019, with support in place at its 80-day moving average.
- Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) stock is up 1.2% ahead of the bell, after the credit card company increased its quarterly dividend by 21% to 40 cents per share. Mastercard also announced an $8 billion share buyback program. MA is up 52% year-to-date, and remains a chip-shot from its Sept. 9 record high of $293.58.
- The shares of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are up 0.7% in pre-market trading, after the Google parent company announced co-founder Larry Page would step down and be replaced by Sundar Pichai, the current CEO of Google. GOOGL has shed 1.3% in the last seven days, but support has emerged at its 40-day moving average.
- Today's economic calendar also features Markit's services PMI, and the ISM non-manufacturing index. At Home (HOME), Five Below (FIVE), G-III Apparel Group (GIII), H&R Block (HRB), National Beverage (FIZZ), Slack Technologies (WORK), RH (RH), Tilly's (TLYS), and Verint Systems (VRNT) will step into the earnings confessional.
Trade Uncertainty Weighing on Asian Markets
Stocks in Asia struggled during today’s session, taking a cue from their U.S. counterparts and falling under pressure from trade uncertainty. Starting in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng paced the selling, dropping 1.3% for its lowest close since Oct. 10. Traders were met with more downbeat data from the territory, with the IHS purchasing managers index falling the most since 2003. China’s Shanghai Composite also fell, dropping 0.2%, and Japan’s Nikkei pulled back 1.2%. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi closed with a 0.7% loss.
European markets are mostly on the rise today, though, benefiting from Bloomberg’s report of progress on a potential trade deal between the U.S. and China. The one outlier is London’s FTSE 100, which was last seen down 0.05%, on pace for a fifth straight loss. On the other hand, the French CAC 40 is up 1.2%, and Germany’s DAX is up 1.1%.