Oil prices and Nike earnings are also in focus today
Stock futures are stuck in their early October slide, with futures on the Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) and S&P 500 (SPX) below fair market value before the opening bell. Tensions in the Middle East are weighing on Wall Street, after Iran launched a ballistic missile at Israel. While the attack's damage is so far minimal, investors are holding their breath to see the Israel response, especially amid a mounting ground operation into Lebanon against Hezbollah.
On the economic front, the U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in September. According to data from ADP, 143,000 private payrolls were created, beating August's upwardly revised figure of 103,000.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White breaks down how the SPX performs after spikes in Chinese markets.
- Big Tech staple boosted by bullish coverage.
- Plus, NKE in freefall; oil stock on the move; and an egg producer rises.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.3 million call contracts and 780,050 put contracts exchanged on Tuesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio and the 21-day moving average remained at 0.55 and 0.64, respectively.
- Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) stock is 7.4% lower premarket. The company's fiscal first-quarter financial report topped estimates, revenue met expectations, and North American sales fell 11% amid a 14% drop in footwear sales. Nike also withdrew its fiscal 2025 guidance and delayed its first investor day in seven years so new CEO Elliott Hill evaluate the firm's strategies. Five analysts have trimmed their price target in response, like swelling NKE's 17.9% year-to-date deficit.
- Marathon Oil Corp (NYSE:MRO) stock is up 1.9% before the open and looking to tack onto its 14.4% year-to-date lead. Oil stocks are rising across the board, as investors monitor the impact of the Middle East tensions on crude prices.
- Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) stock is 1.3% higher before the bell, after the biggest egg producer in the U.S. reported fiscal first-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street's expectations. The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 32% to $1.02 per share. Coming into today, CALM was up 61.7% over the last 12 months.
- What's coming up this week on Wall Street.
Hong Kong Markets Secure 6th-Straight Win
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was the big story in Asia today, adding 6.2% and scoring a 22-month high amid a six-day win streak. Property stocks fueled the burst, with homebuyer confidence rising with Beijing’s latest aggressive stimulus policies. China’s Shanghai Composite remained closed for a holiday. Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.2%, even as the country’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6% in September, below the Reuters expectations of 1.9%. Japan’s Nikkei lost 2.2% as investor caution rises as new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes office.
Middle East tensions are weighing on European markets, though defense stocks Saab, BAE Systems, and Thales are on the move. At last check, London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.2%, the French CAC 40 is marginally lower, and the German DAX is off 0.6%.