The Dow is slightly above fair value at midday
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is slightly above fair value at midday, erasing this morning's losses after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said a deal on additional stimulus is "just about there." Elsewhere, both the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are slightly lower, despite blowout earnings from the likes of Coca-Cola (KO) and Tesla (TSLA), and jobless claims that came in at the lowest since the pandemic started. Elsewhere, traders are still digesting reports that Iran is attempting to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, and that Russia has gotten a hold of American voter information.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- What to expect from BYND's quarterly report.
- Student loan stock rises after slew of bull notes.
- Plus, bears circle in on Apache stock; hardware stock surges after posting prelim earnings; and Kimberly Clark stock drops on restructuring charges.
One stock seeing notable options activity is Apache Corporation (NASDAQ:APA), up 0.1% at $9.11, despite earlier getting a price-target cut from UBS to $11 from $15. So far today, 191,000 puts have crossed the tape, which is 104 times the average intraday amount. Most popular is the weekly 10/23 11.50-strike put, suggesting traders are speculating on continued underperformance for APA by the time these contracts expire tomorrow. Year-to-date, the stock is down 64.5%.
Surging on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE:MXL), up 17.2% at $27.56. Today's impressive surge came after the hardware company reported better-than-expected preliminary third-quarter earnings, with estimated revenue around $155-$157 million. The security has been climbing the charts since early April, after the shares dropped to a March 18, five-year low of $7.79. In fact, the stock hit an Aug. 3 two-year high of $28.34, which it is now set to topple, with support from the 30-day moving average. This year, MXL is up 29.4%.
Meanwhile, dropping lower is Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB), last seen down 5.8% at $139.76. The massive bear gap came after the company's third-quarter earnings and outlook fell below analysts' estimates, due to incurred cumulative restructuring charges of roughly $1.7 million. Before today's results sent shares plummeting, KMB had been braving up the charts to hit an Aug.12 all-time-high of $160.13. Yet now, the security is slipping below the once-supportive 200-day moving average. Longer term, the equity remains up 4.1% year-over-year.