The Dow is the only major index indicating a move lower
Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are up over 300 points ahead of the open, as skyrocketing Nvidia (NVDA) gives the benchmark a boost after earnings, leading other chip and tech stocks higher as well.
S&P 500 (SPX) futures are also modestly higher at last check, while Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures appear to be sitting out today's rally. Elsewhere, jobless claims totaled 229,000, while U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was upwardly revised from 1.1% to a 1.3% growth rate for the first quarter.
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5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.1 million call contracts and 865,532 put contracts exchanged on Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.77 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.70.
- Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is soaring 30.4% premarket after its blowout first-quarter results and forecast. The company is seeing strong demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) chips, used to power ChatGPT and services, and has the potential to become the first trillion-dollar chip firm. The chip stock received a flood of price-target hikes, while Wedbush and Craig-Hallum upgraded the stock to "buy."
- American Eagle Outfitters Inc (NYSE:AEO) is down 19.3% before the bell, after the retailer posted a weak annual revenue forecast. No fewer than seven analysts slashed their price targets after the event. Should these losses hold, AEO will hit a fresh one-year low
- Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL) is up 2.3% after an upgrade from Citigroup to "buy" from "neutral," with a price-target hike to $14 from $10. Heading into today, the equity is up 32.4% year-to-date.
- Check out all the other companies to report earnings today.
Germany Enters Recession
Stocks in Asia were mostly lower Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 1.9% to its lowest level in 2023, while China’s Shanghai Composite hit a more than four-month low, shedding 0.1%. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5%, after the country’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 3.5% for a third-straight time. Rounding out the region, Japan’s Nikkei brushed off the sour sentiment, tacking on 0.4%, despite the yen weakening against the U.S. dollar.
European markets are also struggling the afternoon. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, officially entered a technical recession in the first quarter, after the country’s statistics office released data that marked a downward revision to gross domestic product (GDP). In response, Germany’s DAX was last seen 0.1% lower, while London’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 both sport 0.3% midday losses.