Equity futures on all three benchmarks are lower today
Futures on Wall Street are pulling back today, after the major benchmarks staged an impressive rally in the preceding session. Meanwhile, stronger-than-expected jobless claims is failing to boost sentiment. Initial jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 24 came in at 193,000, a drop of 16,000 and the lowest number since April. Instead, investors are focusing on the impact the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hikes will have on the labor market going forward.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Aerospace and defense stock rebounds from a dip.
- Bull signal could help this e-commerce stock pop next month.
- Plus, BofA downgrades Apple; Bed Bath & Beyond brushes off dismal quarterly report; and shareholders sue Warner Bros Discovery.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.03 million call contracts and 777,261 put contracts traded on Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.75, while the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.68.
- Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was last seen 2.2% lower premarket, and cutting into its slim 5.6% year-over-year lead. The catalyst for today's negative movement is a bear note from Bank of America, which just downgraded AAPL to "neutral" from "buy" on expectations that weakening consumer demand will soon dent the equity's appeal.
- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:BBBY) just posted wider-than-expected losses and a revenue miss for the fiscal second-quarter, with sales plunging 28% year-on-year as the company looks to clear out excess inventory. Despite this, BBBY was last seen 3.7% higher before the bell, though it's walking into the session with a 71.6% 12-month deficit.
- Last seen down 0.6% ahead of the open and adding to a nearly 50% year-to-date dip, Warner Bros Discovery Inc (NASDAQ:WBD) is now being sued by shareholders for allegedly making misleading comments about the performance of its streaming service, HBO Max. This lawsuit comes just ahead of a merger between the former Discovery Communications and AT&T's (T) Warner Media unit.
- A gross domestic product (GDP) revision is on tap for later in the session.
China Cautions Traders About Betting on the Yuan
Asian markets saw a mixed day of trading, as investors kept a close eye on the global economy. While U.S. markets did see a surge, the People’s Bank of China cautioned traders against betting on the yuan, regardless of direction, after the currency hit a 14-year low yesterday. In response, the Nikkei in Japan rose 1% and the South Korean Kospi added 0.08%. As far as laggards, the Hong Kong Hang Seng dropped 0.5%, and the Shanghai Composite in China shed 0.1%.
In Europe, stocks are sinking once more as traders appeared to brush off news that the Bank of England’s (BoE) would instate a temporary bond buying program in order to soothe rocky markets. Meanwhile, the European Commission’s economic sentiment indicators plummeted to 93.7, its lowest reading since November 2020. At last check, the London FTSE 100 is down 1.1%, the French CAC 40 has lost 1.3%, and the German DAX is 1.5% lower.