The S&P 500 is looking to snap a weekly losing streak
Stocks are rebounding from their sharp premarket losses, with all three major indexes sporting modest midday leads. Wall Street appears to be brushing off this morning's blowout jobs data, which spurred concerns regarding the Federal Reserve's upcoming interest rate decision. The S&P 500 (SPX) is on track to snap a weekly losing streak, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is on track for its third-straight weekly loss.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- 2 sectors that tend to outperform this month.
- Why Koninklijke Philips stock is sinking today.
- Plus, options traders eye potential PXD merger; SMR soars from recent lows; and AEHR plummets on forecast.
Options traders are targeting Pioneer Natural Resources Co (NYSE:PXD), after news that the company is in late-stage talks with Exxon Mobile (XOM) to be bought out for $60 billion. So far today, 9,833 calls and 6,484 puts have been exchanged, which is already eight times the average daily options volume. The October 250 call is the most popular, followed by the weekly 10/6 237.50-strike call, with new positions being opened at the latter. At last look, PXD was last seen up 10.3% at $237.13.
The New York Stock Exchange's (NYSE) NuScale Power Corp (NYSE:SMR) is jumping out of penny stock territory today, up 14.7% at $5.36 at last check. Further removed from its Oct. 3, record low of $4.47, the security is still seeing overhead pressure at its 40-day moving average. Today's pop comes after the company's contract with Standard Power to build two small modular reactor-powered facilities. Since the start of the year, SMR is down 48%.
Semiconductor stock Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR) is down 15.7% to trade at $37.28 at last check, as the company's disappointing revenue forecast weighs despite strong fiscal first-quarter results. The equity is still holding on to an impressive 85.4% year-to-date gain, however.