The Dow looks ready to build on Friday's record close
Fresh off another winning week, stock futures are inching higher this morning. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are indicating the blue-chip index is ready to build on Friday's record close, while S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 (NDX) futures are also in the black.
On the data front, the S&P flash U.S. services purchasing managers' index (PMI) and manufacturing PMI are due out later this morning, while several Fed officials will speak later today, giving more insight into the central bank's next steps after last week's interest rate cut.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 2.4 million call contracts and more than 1.2 million put contracts exchanged on Friday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.52 and the 21-day moving average remained at 0.65.
- Pinterest Inc (NYSE:PINS) stock is up 2.9% premarket, after Deutsche Bank initiated coverage with a "buy" rating. The social media stock is down 18% year-to-date heading into today.
- General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) stock is down 2.7% before the bell, after the automaker was downgraded by Bernstein to "market perform" from "outperform," with a price-target cut to $53 from $54.50. General Motors stock has been seeing serious pressure at the $50 mark, and is up 36.1% in 2024.
- Shares of Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) are up 3.3% higher in electronic trading, after an equity-like investment offer of $5 billion from Apollo Global Management, per Bloomberg. Qualcomm (QCOM) also reportedly approached the company about a takeover. The underperforming chipmaker is down 56.5% year to date.
- What's coming up this week on Wall Street.
Asian Bourses on the Move
Indexes in Asia were mostly higher today, as investors absorbed youth unemployment data out of China, which on Friday showed a rise to annual highs. Investors are also digesting last week’s decision from the People’s Bank of China to keep interest rates steady alongside the Bank of Japan (BoJ). For the session, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed off 0.06%, while China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3%, and Japan’s Nikkei tacked on 1.5%.
European markets are mixed at last check, after Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data out of Germany and France contracted to seven- and eight-month lows, respectively. London’s FTSE 100 is down 0.1%, France’s CAC 40 has shed 0.2%, and Germany’s DAX is up 0.6% at last glance.