All three benchmarks are firmly in the black this morning
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are up 328 points before the bell this morning, looking to extend yesterday's best single-session gain in over a year. S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 (NDX) futures are sitting firmly in the black as well, as Covid-19 omicron variant concerns continue to ease. Meanwhile, the U.S trade deficit slipped 18% in October, after barely any increase in imports, while exports climbed 8.1%.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- A Look at NetGear stock ahead of analyst day.
- Overstock.com shares could soon stage a bounce.
- Plus, AutoZone stock's post-earnings surge, analyst praises dating name; and pharma giant buzzing on upbeat data.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.5 million call contracts traded on Monday, and over 810,243 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.54, and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.48.
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AutoZone, Inc (NYSE:AZO) is up 2.5% before the bell this morning, after the auto retailer posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results, driven by new stores. Heading into today, AZO is up 58.6% year-to-date, and looking to climb back up towards its mid-November record high.
- J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded Bumble Inc (NASDAQ:BMBL) to "overweight" from "neutral," citing increased confidence in the dating app's growth trajectory. In response, BMBL is up 7.3% in electronic trading, and on track to bounce further from Friday's record low.
- Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACAD) is surging in pre-market trading, up 17.5%, after positive data from its late-stage trial of its experimental therapy for Rett Syndrome. In turn, no fewer than seven analysts have lifted their price targets on ACAD, with the highest from SVB Leerink to $31 from $26.
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Omicron Comments Give Global Markets a Boost
Asian markets are also seeing notable gains, on global optimism surrounding the Covid-19 omicron variant, after Dr. Anthony Fauci called data collected “encouraging.” The Hong Kong Hang Seng rose 2.7%, while the Japanese Nikkei jumped 1.9%, thanks to a big rebound from Softbank. The South Korean Kospi saw a quieter 0.6% jump, while China’s Shanghai Composite added just 0.2%, as traders eyed an announcement from the country’s central bank, stating it would taper off the amount of cash banks are required to keep as reserves for the second time in 2021. A slew of trade data is being digested in the region, too. China’s imports jumped to a better-than-expected 31.7%, though exports rose to just 22%, which was lower than anticipated.
Over in Europe, markets are also getting a boost from Fauci’s reassuring omicron comments. The London FTSE 100 is up 1.1%, and the French CAC 40 is up 2.3% at last check. Elsewhere, in Germany, investors are poring over economic data, including an unexpected 2.8% rise in the country’s industrial output for October, which came in much higher than Reuters’ projected 0.8% climb. Meanwhile, a sentiment reading out of the country’s ZEW economic research institute showed a decline in sentiment in December to 29.9 from 31.7. In response, the German DAX was last seen up 2.1%.