U.S.-China relations will be a focal point this week
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are set to start the month flat, as civil unrest stews at home and abroad. Investors are unpacking a weekend's worth of civil protests in states across the U.S. in response to the death
of George Floyd. Elsewhere, U.S.-China tensions continue to bubble, after U.S. President Donald Trump's speech on Friday hinted at a change in rhetoric toward Hong Kong. Futures on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are also flat, as Wall Street also weighs the slowly reopening
U.S. economies with the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.5 million call contracts traded on Friday and 856,668 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.58, and the 21-day moving average slipped to 0.56.
- Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) stock is up 6.7% in electronic trading, after the video game developer acquired mobile game producer Peak for $1.8 billion. The company also upped its guidance for 2020. ZNGA is fresh off an eight-year high
of $9.19 on Friday.
- Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) stock is up 2.5% ahead of the bell, after the video chat platform began to roll out an encryption device to prevent conference hacking, or "Zoombombing." ZM is up 163% in 2020, as video conferencing becomes
the "new normal" amid the global pandemic.
- The shares of Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NYSE:KDP) are up 0.7% before the open, after receiving an upgrade to "outperform" at Evercore. The analyst in coverage glowed about the company's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. KDP is facing
off with its year-to-date breakeven point today.
- Kicking off the new month,
today will feature the Markit manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), ISM manufacturing index, and construction spending report. Meanwhile, the earnings slate remains bare.
Stocks in Asia Brush Off Trump Speech
Stocks in Asia were higher on Monday, after data shed light on China’s expanding factory activity. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led gains this morning, closing 3.4% higher, after Trump announced his intention to take action to eliminate special treatment for Hong Kong – the result of a controversial national security bill that was approved by China. Meanwhile, China’s Shanghai composite gained 2.2% and South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.8%. Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.8%, as shares of financial giant Softbank Group jumped nearly 4%.
Amid the easing of coronavirus-related lockdowns, stocks in Europe are rising today as investors eye the reopening of economies across the globe. To kick the week off, London’s FTSE 100 is up 1.1%, while France’s CAC 40 was last seen 1.1%
higher. Stocks in Germany are closed for holiday.