Wall Street closed last week mixed
Stock futures are quiet to start the holiday-shortened week, following mixed weekly results for the major indexes. Investors are preparing for some end-of-week inflation data that could provide key insight into the state of the U.S. economy, as well as consumer confidence data due out later this morning. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are modestly lower, while S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures sit just above fair value, and futures tied to the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) move higher.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Breaking down last week's volatility.
- Mining stock for call traders.
- Plus, 3 upgrades to parse this morning.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.3 million call contracts and 897,399 put contracts traded on Friday. The single-session equity put/call fell to 0.67, and the 21-day moving average dropped to 0.69.
- Duolingo Inc (NASDAQ:DUOL) stock is 3% higher before the bell, after JMP upgraded shares of the language learning app to "market outperform" from "market perform," citing the company's new Duolingo Max subscription tier and potential tailwinds from artificial intelligence (AI). Coming into today, DUOL was down 21.4% in 2024.
- Mizuho, meanwhile, upgraded Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE:NCLH) to "buy" from "neutral." The Wall Street brokerage said the cruise line stock could benefit from shifting sentiment after short sellers higher-than-usual interest in the shares over the last few years. Year to date, NCLH is down 20.1%.
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Lastly, Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) was upgraded to "overweight" from "neutral" at J.P. Morgan Securities, with the bank citing onshoring benefits and organic growth benefits in its bull note. Up 2% in premarket trading, HBAN is looking to add to a 31.9% year-over-year lead.
- This week will pack a heavy earnings punch.
Euro Zone Inflation Holds Steady
Asian markets inched lower on Tuesday. China’s Shanghai Composite marked the biggest loss with a 0.5% drop. Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.03%, and the South Korean Kospi slipped 0.01%.
Europe’s inflation data was front and center today, after the euro zone’s inflation reading held steady at 2.4% in April, marking its seventh consecutive month below 3%. European markets are also slipping, with London’s FTSE 100 down 0.3%, the French CAC 40 down 0.7%, and the German DAX off 0.8%.