Earnings reports and interest rate cut overseas are in focus
Stock futures are pointed higher this morning, looking to build on yesterday's Federal Reserve tailwinds. Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are getting a boost from a beat-and-raise from Meta Platforms (META), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are gaining steam as the opening bell nears.
Investors are also unpacking economic data, with jobless claims rising to a nearly one-year high amid declining labor costs, while U.S. productivity rose 2.3% in the previous quarter, exceeding the 0.4% estimates.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.6 million call contracts and 986,419 put contracts traded on Thursday. The single-session equity put/call slipped to 0.59, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.66.
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Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) stock is 3.3% lower in premarket, after the
chocolate maker's second-quarter earnings and revenue fell short of estimates. At yesterday's close, HSY was trading at its highest level since early June, but could cede its year-to-date breakeven level today.
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Shake Shack Inc (NYSE:SHAK) stock is up 18.7% in electronic trading, after beating second-quarter revenue estimates and hiking its full-year
revenue outlook. SHAK dropped 18.2% over the past three months, but is poised to add to its 18.2% year-to-date gain.
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The shares of
Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) are down nearly 11.5% before the open, after the semiconductor company's second-quarter earnings forecast whiffed on expectations. Seven brokerages still issued price-target hikes, with the highest coming from Evercore to $173 from $145.
Arm stock sports a 91.9% lead in 2024.
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Nikkei Stumbles; Europe Responds to BoE Rate Cut
Asian markets finished mostly lower on Thursday, with the exception of the South Korean Kospi, which rose 0.3% after the country’s July exports rose at their fastest pace in six months. Japan’s Nikkei led the laggards with a 2.5% drop, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2%, despite data that the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose 3.3% year over year -- beating Reuters expectations of a 2.7% rise. China’s factory activity saw a surprise contraction in July, after its manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 49.8, and the Shanghai Composite shed 0.2% in response.
European bourses are lower across the board, after the Bank of England (BoE) said it’s cutting interest rates for the first time in four years. London’s FTSE 100 is fractionally lower at last glance, while the French CAC 40 and German DAX drop 1.2% and 1.1%, respectively.