All three major benchmarks are lower ahead of the open
Stock futures are modestly lower today, with futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) off by 64 points at last check, as Wall Street watches the ever-present debt ceiling negotiations. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed non-manufacturing survey rose to -16 in May from the previous month's -22.8.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- VIX hedges could create short-term headwinds, per Senior V.P. of Research Todd Salamone.
- Quantum stock drawing attention after G7 summit.
- Plus, YELP jumps on investor buzz; LOW falls on forecast; and CVX upgraded.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.4 million call contracts and 811,696 put contracts exchanged on Monday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.54 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.72.
- Yelp Inc (NASDAQ:YELP) is up 9.8% premarket, after news that activist investor TCS Capital Management built more than 4% stake in the company. Looking to resume its recent climb, the equity is up 18.9% year-to-date heading into today.
- The shares of Lowe's Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW) are brushing off upbeat first-quarter results, down 1.4% before the bell, after the home improvement company lowered its annual sales and profit forecasts. Year-over-year, LOW is up 10%.
- Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is up 1.4% in electronic trading, after an upgrade from HSBC to "buy" from "hold," and a price-target hike from Truist Securities to $194 from $190 on the company's PDC Energy deal. Chevron stock has been slipping on the charts, down 9.6% since the start of the month.
- Today will bring new home sales as well as the S&P flash U.S. services purchasing managers' index (PMI) and manufacturing PMI.
Debt Ceiling Talks Weigh Internationally
Stocks in Asia were mostly lower Tuesday, after stateside politicians failed to strike a deal on the debt ceiling. Despite expanding factory activity, Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.4%, snapping a seven-day win streak. Mainland stocks suffered more, with China’s Shanghai Composite shedding 1.5%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.3% to a two-month low, after the area’s inflation reading for April came in at 2.1% -- just above economists’ estimates. Rounding out the region, rising consumer sentiment in South Korea helped the country’s Kospi add 0.4%.
The U.S. debt ceiling stalemate is also weighing on most European markets, with Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 down 0.3% and 0.9%, respectively, at last glance. Meanwhile, London’s FTSE 100 boasts a 0.3% midday lead, after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the U.K. will avoid a recession this year, estimating gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 0.4% in 2023.