All three major indexes are firmly lower before the bell
Wall Street is facing pressure from rising bond yields ahead of the open this morning, with Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures down triple digits. The tech sector in particular could see headwinds today, after Samsung Electronics' fourth-quarter profit warning due to falling smartphone demand. Elsewhere, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed 2% to $63.2 billion after a decline in imports, which could potentially lift gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Schaeffer's Senior V.P. of Research, Todd Salamone sees a short-term pullback to this SPX trendline.
- Signal says pharma stock could stay hot.
- Plus, more job cuts to unpack; MTCH's activist investor buzz; and NFLX downgraded.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.4 million call contracts and 835,380 put contracts traded on Monday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.59, and the 21-day moving average also rose to 0.70.
- Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U) stock is up 2.5% premarket, after the video game company announced a 25% reduction of its workforce, or roughly 1,800 employees. In response, Wedbush raised its price target to $50 from $31. Over the past year, the stock is up 43%.
- Match Group Inc (NASDAQ:MTCH) stock is soaring before the bell, up 13.5% at last glance, after the Wall Street Journal reported activist investor Elliott Investment Management has built a $1 billion stake in the company. The stock has been climbing since its early-November bear gap, and will break into positive territory year-over-year should these gains hold.
- Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) stock is down 1.6% in electronic trading, after a series of analyst notes this morning. Citigroup downgraded NFLX to "neutral" from "buy," though BMO initiated coverage with an "outperform" rating and TD Cowen raised its price target to $565 from $500. In the past year, the streaming giant has added 53.7%.
- Pivotal inflation data is looming this week, as well as bank earnings.
Nikkei Hits 33-Year Highs
Stocks in Asia were mixed Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei led the gainers with a 1.2% pop, hitting 33-year highs after Tokyo’s inflation rate slowed to 2.4% last month. Elsewhere, China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2%, and South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.3%, the latter weighed down by Samsung's profit warning.
European markets are lower this afternoon, as investors in the region await this week's deluge of stateside inflation data. London’s FTSE 100 sports a fractional loss, while France’s CAC 40 is down 0.4% at last glance. Germany’s DAX is off 0.3%, following an unexpected drop in industrial production in November.