Wall Street seems unable to build on Friday's surge to record levels
Stock futures are mostly lower Monday morning, with Wall Street poised to take a breath after Friday's record highs. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are both swimming in red ink, while futures on the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are holding above fair market value by the skin on their teeth. Investors are bracing for a batch of jobs data this week, as well as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's semiannual monetary policy testimony to Congress.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Start March right with these 25 stocks.
- Recapping a fourth-straight winning month on Wall Street.
- Plus, Bitcoin boosting crypto stocks; Macy's buyout offer; and LYFT's bull note.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.8 million call contracts and 1.1 million put contracts exchanged Friday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.60, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.70.
- MicroStrategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) stock is 9.1% higher ahead of the open, after Bitcoin (BTC) touched another two-year high. Other notable crypto stocks are moving higher this morning, too, including Coinbase (COIN) and Marathon Digital (MAR), both of which boast 6% premarket leads. MicroStrategy stock is looking to add to a 326.8% year-over-year gain.
- Shares of department store giant Macy's Inc (NYSE:M) are 15.5% higher before the opening bell after a buyout update. Specifically, Arkhouse Management raised its buyout offer to $24 per share, or $6.6 billion. Should these gains hold, Macy's stock will overcome its 10.5% year-to-date deficit.
- RBC upgraded LYFT Inc (NASDAQ:LYFT) stock to "outperform," citing confidence in the ride-share firm's 2024 earnings estimates, food delivery opportunities, and its position in a "stable duopoly" as its most prominent catalysts. Up 7.1% in premarket trading, LYFT is on track to add to a 9.1% year-to-date lead.
- This week brings the ADP jobs report and more retail earnings.
Japan's Nikkei Smashes Round Barrier
Stocks in Asia closed higher the start the week, following a banner Friday by several U.S. indexes. The Nikkei in Japan finished up 0.5%, marking a fresh record close above the round 40,000 level. Economic data is expected out of China’s “Two Sessions” meeting this week, sending the region’s Shanghai Composite up 0.4%, despite a weighty electric vehicle (EV) sector. In South Korea, factory output fell 1.3% and retail sales grew for January, sending the Kospi up 1.2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.04%.
On the heels of last week’s upbeat euro zone inflation data, all eyes are on the incoming interest rate decision due out from the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday. Markets in Europe were last seen mixed: London’s FTSE 100 off 0.6%, Germany’s DAX 0.03% lower, and France’s CAC 40 up 0.09%.