Cyber Monday and Black Friday last week has the retail sector in focus
Stock futures are moving lower this morning, as Wall Street looks to wrap up November with five-straight weekly wins. "Cyber Monday" is giving the retail sector a boost this morning, especially after numbers over the weekend showed online Black Friday sales set records last week. While trading volume could be sluggish today, there will be plenty of economic data to unpack later this week, including the Fed's favorite inflation metric on Thursday and gross domestic product (GDP) data on Wednesday.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- These retail earnings made waves last week.
- Why Novo Nordisk stock hit record highs last week.
- Plus, two analyst calls to monitor today; and Elliot Management's new stake.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 721,583 call contracts and 653,395 put contracts traded Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.91 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.69.
- Okta Inc (NASDAQ:OKTA) stock is down 0.6% premarket, after a downgrade from JMP Securities to "market perform" from "outperform." The firm cited the cybersecurity company's recent security breach, calling it "significantly degraded." Since the start of the year, the equity is up 7.2%.
- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE:TEVA) is up 2.7% before the bell, after UBS upgraded the pharma stock to "buy" from "neutral." The analyst in coverage noted the upcoming clinical trials and strong brand pipeline. Heading into today, TEVA is up 4.7% in 2023.
- Crown Castle Inc (NYSE:CCI) stock is jumping 5.8% in electronic trading, after news that activist investor Elliott Management has amassed a more than $2 billion stake in the infrastructure company, and is pushing for changes. Since the start of the year, CCI is down 23.6%.
- There's more than just inflation data due out this week.
Stocks Lower in Asia, Europe as Well
Stocks in Asia tumbled Monday, as shares of Chinese property companies plunged amid a probe into shadow bank Zhongzhi Enterprise Group. Japan’s producer price index (PPI) rising 2.3% last month to a 45-month high is also weighing on the region. In response, Japan’s Nikkei erased 0.5%, while China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi shed a marginal 0.04%.
European markets are also lower this afternoon, dragged down by oil and gas stocks ahead of the delayed Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) meeting. At last glance, France’s CAC 40 was just below breakeven, while Germany’s DAX was down 0.1%, and London’s FTSE 100 was off by 0.2%.