Wall Street is looking to close a winning month
Stock futures are on the rise, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) up 229 points, as all three benchmarks head for strong closes to put a bow on a winning month. The Fed's favored inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index showed a 3.5% year-over-year and 0.2% month-on-month rise for October. Both readings aligned with analyst expectations, providing hope that the Fed will hold rate hikes. Meanwhile, jobless claims came in at 218,000 for last week.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Homebuilding stock flashing bull signal.
- The benefits of options trading vs. stock trading.
- Plus, 2 cloud stocks surging after earnings; and HOOD expands to the U.K.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 1.4 million call contracts and 799,846 put contracts traded Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.55 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.69.
- Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) is up 9% premarket, after the company's strong third-quarter report and full-year profit forecast. Plus, a flood of analysts lifted their price targets after the event. Should these gains hold, the blue-chip giant will hit fresh 52-week highs.
- Fellow cloud stock Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW) is surging after its upbeat third-quarter report as well, up 7.7% before the bell, and also received a host of price-target hikes. Since the start of the year, the equity has added 22.1%.
- Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD) is up 3.6% in electronic trading, after news that the company will launch its brokerage services in the United Kingdom early next year. HOOD is up 9.6% in 2023 coming into today.
- There's more than just inflation data due out this week.
Inflation Buzz Overseas as Well
Asian markets were higher across the board today. The big news out of the region came from South Korea, where the country’s central bank held its benchmark lending rate at 3.5% and forecasted an inflation slowdown heading into 2024. The Kospi added 0.6% in response. Elsewhere, China’s factory activity fell in November for the second straight month, helping nudge the Shanghai Composite 0.3% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.5%.
European bourses are on the rise, after euro zone inflation checked in at 2.4% for November, much lower than the 2.7% estimates forecasted by analysts. Energy stocks are also in focus ahead of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Allies (OPEC+) meeting later today. At last check, London’s FTSE 100 and the French CAC 40 were up 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively. The German DAX is 0.5% higher, despite a rising unemployment rate.