The Nasdaq scored a record close last night
Stock futures are signaling a higher open today, as Wall Street mulls over the latest jobs data before the holiday weekend. Weekly jobless claims came in at 340,000, their lowest level since March 2020 and better than the 345,000 expectations from analysts. At last check, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are up around 60 points, while futures on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are higher as well, with the latter coming off a record close.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Beware of this retail stock in September.
- Mixed signals for Brady stock ahead of earnings.
- Plus, Chewy stock eyes bear gap; Hormel brushes off earnings beat; and Five Below stock dented.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.9 million call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 853,514 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.45 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.52.
- Chewy Inc (NYSE:CHWY) stock is plummeting in electronic trading, last seen down 9.5% in electronic trading. The pet producer retailer reported wider-than-expected losses and lackluster revenue in its third-quarter earnings report, and chalked the dismal results up to high levels of out-of-stock products. In response, Chewy issued an outlook that was weaker than analysts anticipated. Heading into today, Chewy stock was battling its year-to-date breakeven level.
- The shares of Hormel Foods Corp (NYSE:HRL) are down 1.1% before the open, after the food producer reported third quarter earnings that lined up with Wall Street's estimates, alongside revenue that was higher than expectations. Instead, a weaker-than-expected full-year outlook is weighing on the stock. Longer term, HRL is down 9.9% year-over-year.
- Five Below Inc (NASDAQ:FIVE) stock is plunging on the charts, down 8.4% ahead of the open, despite the discount retailer's quarterly earnings beat. The catalyst for today's dip seems to be revenue that was shy of forecasts, as well as withheld full-year guidance. This negative price action will put a dent in Five Below stock's 88.8% year-over-year lead.
- Today, investors will see trade balance data and factory orders. Revised capital goods orders, as well as productivity and unit labor costs data are also on the calendar.
Investors in Asia React to Ridesharing Probe
Markets in Asia were mostly higher today, with the exception of the South Korean Kospi, which finished with a 1% loss. Japan's Nikkei added 0.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2%, and China's Shanghai Composite tacked on 0.8%. Investors focused on a meeting between Chinese regulators and 11 ridesharing companies, including Didi (DIDI), about their illegal behavior.
Over in Europe, markets are fairly muted midday, as investors eye upcoming jobs data out of the U.S. London's FTSE 100 is down 0.1%, the French CAC 40 is off 0.06%, and the German DAX is up 0.01%.