Futures on all three major benchmarks are inching lower before the bell
Though Wall Street just wrapped up an exceptional November, stock futures are hovering below fair value to kick off the new month. All eyes are on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who will speak at Spelman College in Atlanta at 11 a.m. ET, with investors eager for clues regarding monetary policy.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Semiconductor stock one of the best to own in December.
- Behind Salesforce stock's bull gap.
- Plus, PFE drops weight-loss drug; BABA downgraded; and MRVL falls on forecast.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 1.3 million call contracts and 800,274 put contracts traded Thursday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.60 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.69.
- Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) stock is down 4.5% premarket, after the biopharma giant halted development of its experimental twice-daily experimental weight-loss pill due to side effects. Should PFE extend these losses slightly today, the stock will hit a fresh three-year low. Since the start of the year, Pfizer stock is down 40.5%.
- China-based e-commerce stock Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is down 1.7% in electronic trading, after a downgrade from Morgan Stanley to "equal weight." The firm sees a slower turnaround than expected. In 2023, BABA is down 15% heading into today.
- Marvell Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MRVL) stock is down 4.8% before the bell, after the company's disappointing current-quarter guidance, despite upbeat third-quarter results. No fewer than seven analysts chimed in with price-target cuts as well. Year to date, the equity is up 50.5%.
- Plenty of economic data to kick off the new month next week.
Economic Data Weighs on Asian Bourses
Stocks in Asia moved opposite of their stateside counterparts, as investors digested the region’s mixed economic data. The Shanghai Composite finished just above breakeven, after China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) flashed a surprising expansion in November. Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.2% after factory activity contracted for a sixth-straight month. South Korea’s Kospi erased 1.2% despite the country’s factory activity going unchanged, the first time it didn’t contract in 17 months. Lastly, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.3%.
Meanwhile, the major European bourses are on track to close out their best month since January. The region’s benchmarks are getting a boost after flash data estimated euro zone inflation has fallen significantly lower than estimates. At last glance, London’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX were 0.6% higher, while France’s CAC 40 rises 0.2%.