Former Vice President Joe Biden grabbed several big wins in last night's primaries
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are signaling an over 600 point surge going into today's trading, as Wall Street unpacks former Vice President Joe Biden's big wins on Super Tuesday, pulling ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders in the delegate count for the Democratic Primaries. This has the healthcare sector -- specifically UnitedHealth (UNH) -- eyeing big pre-market wins. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are also looking at notable opens higher.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Why Forty Seven stock has attracted so much attention.
- A deep dive into last week's historic trading volume, from CEO and founder Bernie Schaeffer.
- Plus, Home Depot gets a bull note; ZGNX stock inches higher; and Nordstrom's 2020 outlook misses the mark.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.03 million call contracts traded on Tuesday, compared to 752,813 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio moved to 0.73, and the 21-day moving average was 0.60.
- Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) is once again attempting to erase last week's sell-off this morning after a bull note from Instinet. The analyst upgraded HD to "buy" from "neutral," and lifted its price target to $251 from $240. The blue chip is up 2.5% in pre-market trading.
- Drugmaker Zogenix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZGNX) was initially lower after offering 8.5 million shares of common stock for $23.50 a share -- a nearly 6% discount to last night's close. The company will put the proceeds into development and possible commercialization toward several experimental drugs including Fintepla, its treatment for patients with Dravet syndrome. However, the equity is brushing off some of these earlier losses with a modest early morning gain of 0.3%.
- Retailer Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) is on a slippery slope this morning, following its fourth-quarter earnings report. The equity is down 7.3% in electronic trading and looking to open at six-month lows after it forecast full-year profits and posted revenue that missed analysts' estimates. Barclays has already downgraded JWN, while three others issued price-target cuts.
- Today's calendar will bring the ADP employment report, Markit services PMI, the ISM non-manufacturing index, and the Fed's Beige book. On the earnings docket are reports from Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), American Eagle (AEO), Bilibili (BILI), Baozun (BZUN), and Campbell Soup (CPB).
Asian, European Markets Strengthened by U.S. Fed Action
Markets in Asia reacted favorably to the Fed's emergency rate cut yesterday, and were mostly higher across the board. South Korea's Kospi paced the region with a 2.2% win, after the country proposed an extra budget of 11.7 trillion Korean won, or $9.86 billion, to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.6%, despite its Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) falling to record lows last month. Japan's Nikkei gained roughly 0.1%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng finished down 0.2%.
Over in Europe, stocks are also lifted by the Fed's emergency actions, in the hope that it serves as a catalyst for other central banks. At last check, London's FTSE 100 is up 1.3%, the French CAC 40 is up 1%, and the German DAX is up 1.1%.