The U.S. midterm elections will take place on Tuesday
Stock futures are solidly higher this morning, as investors gear up for a jam-packed week. Congressional midterm elections are on Tuesday, which will redetermine which party controls Congress and affect the future of spending in the U.S. Meanwhile, a deluge of inflation data is due out over the course of the week, which could give Wall Street insight into the Federal Reserve's future interest rate decisions. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are eyeing a 64-point pop, while futures on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are also pointed modestly higher.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Discount retail stock could reverse recent losses.
- Unpacking DraftKings stock's post-earnings plummet.
- Plus, BioNTech reports year-over-year financial fall; Meta's massive layoff; and iPhone production could be hindered.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.6 million call contracts and 1.2 million put contracts traded on Friday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.74, while the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.68.
- BioNTech SE - ADR (NASDAQ:BNTX) is down 2.8% ahead of the open, after announcing better-than-expected third-quarter results. Despite beating top- and bottom-line expectations, profits and revenue were down more than 40% year-over-year, and BNTX is down 42.9% in that same timeframe.
- Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) is up 3.1% in the premarket, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the social media giant is preparing to make large-scale layoffs that could impact thousands of employees. Shares of the Facebook parent tumbled recently following a major earnings disappointment, and are now down 73% in 2022.
- Covid-19 restrictions continue to weigh on Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), and the shares are off by 1.3% before the bell. Digging deeper, the restrictions are hindering iPhone productions at the company's Foxconn factory in China -- the world's biggest production site. Apple stock sports a 22.1% year-to-date deficit.
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The consumer credit level change is due out today.
Asian Markets Pop Following Chinese Trade Data
Markets in Asia rose today, led by the red-hot Hong Kong Hang Seng, which tacked on 2.7%. Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei added 1.2%, China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.2%, and the South Korean Kospi moved 1% higher. China’s trade data showed exports falling by 0.3% year-over-year in October, compared to analyst expectations of a 4.3% rise, marking the first drop since May 2020. Imports fell 0.7%, falling short of the anticipated 0.1% rise. Sentiment took a hit, meanwhile, after China health officials reinforced the tight Covid measures.
Meanwhile, European markets are mixed midday. London’s FTSE 100 is down 0.2%, while the French CAC 40 and German DAX are up 0.2% and 0.8%, respectively.