AAPL's quarterly update is receiving bullish reviews
A busy week on Wall Street continues today with another full slate of earnings and economic updates. Traders are considering last evening's quarterly report from Apple (AAPL) that has shares of the tech giant moving higher before the open, and fellow blue chip Boeing's (BA) post-earnings gains, as well. Outside of corporate earnings updates, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will wrap up its January meeting today. No change to monetary policy is expected, but investors will be monitoring Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments closely. Against this backdrop, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are pointing to a positive start for stocks.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.21 million call contracts traded on Tuesday compared to 662,198 million put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.55, and the 21-day moving average was 0.53.
- McDonald's Corp (NYSE:MCD) stock is trading flat in pre-market activity following the company's earnings release. The fast food giant's earnings per share topped estimates, as did its same-store sales figure for the quarter. MCD shares closed Tuesday at $210.39, roughly 5 points above the 200-day moving average.
- Another name to watch on the earnings front is chipmaker Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX), which is watching its stock drop about 7% before the open. The company's quarterly sales came up short of expectations, and it delivered a subpar forecast. A number of price-target reductions have come through as a result, and XLNX stock could test 52-week-low territory in reponse.
- In retail, L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) is grabbing headlines this morning due to reports the company's CEO Leslie Wexner could step down and sell the company's Victoria's Secret business. L Brands recently posted a lackluster sales update for the holiday period.
- The Fed will release its latest policy announcement at 2 p.m. ET, followed by a press conference from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Pending home sales are also slated for release, as well as earnings reports from Dow (DOW), Microsoft (MSFT), Alibaba (BABA), Anthem (ANTM), AT&T (T), Facebook (FB), MasterCard (MA), and Tesla (TSLA).
Mixed Trading Overseas
Stocks in Asia were a mixed bag today. Hong Kong's Hang Seng returned from the holiday and promptly dropped 2.8%, with travel, insurance, and gaming stocks under pressure from the spreading coronavirus. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam declared a city-wide emergency and canceled all official visits to mainland China as the virus death toll rose to 132. China's Shanghai Composite remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. Rounding out the region, Japan's Nikkei added 0.7% and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.4%.
Over in Europe, stocks have brushed off coronavirus concerns for now. London's FTSE 100 is up 0.1% at last check, while an unexpected rise in French consumer confidence for January has the CAC 0.4% higher. Rounding out the region, the German DAX is sporting a 0.2% gain.