October's private job creation was the best since July 2023
Stock futures are scattered Wednesday, as traders unpack major corporate earnings reports, key jobs data, and a U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) update. Concerning jobs, ADP said private companies hired 233,000 new workers in October, much better than economists' estimates of 113,000 and the best month of job creation since July 2023. As for the GDP, the U.S. economy grew 2.8% in the third quarter, or slightly less than the 3.1% annualized pace that economists anticipated.
At last look, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are swimming in red ink, while Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are unchanged.
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 1 million put contracts exchanged on Tuesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.62 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.63.
- Shares of Google-parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are 6.5% higher in electronic trading, after the tech giant beat third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations following a 35% rise in cloud revenue. Further, the company's cloud division saw tailwinds from the buzz surrounding artificial intelligence (AI). Coming into today, GOOGL was up 36.3% over the last 12 months.
- Speaking of AI, semiconductor concern Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is down 8.5% after earnings. The chip maker's third-quarter earnings met estimates, while its fourth-quarter revenue forecasts was lower than expectations. In addition, CEO Lisa Su said in a conference call that AMD expects data-center AI graphics processing unit (GPU) revenue to "exceed" $5 billion in 2024. The equity is on track to lose a sizable chunk of its 12.8% year-to-date lead.
- Lastly, Reddit Inc (NYSE:RDDT) is up 20.4% before the opening bell, looking to tack onto an 83.9% six-month gain after earnings. The social-media company marked its first quarter of profitability, with third-quarter earnings of $29.9 million on revenue of $348.4 million -- both beating Wall Street's expectations.
- Employment data and more earnings are due out this week.
Investors React to BoJ's Policy Meeting, European GDP Reports
Asian markets finished mostly lower on Wednesday, with the exception of the Nikkei, rising 1% as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) kicked off its two-day policy meeting and investors expecting interest rates to remain steady at 0.25%. According to Reuters, China is considering over 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in extra debt to stimulate its economy, which is expected to be increased if Donald Trump wins the U.S. Presidential election. China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.6%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.6%, and the South Korean Kospi lost 0.9%.
European bourses are lower across the board, as investors await the U.K.’s government budget due out later today. Meanwhile, a flash reading showed the euro zone’s economy growing 0.4% in the third quarter, compared to economist expectations of a 0.2% rise when polled by Reuters. France’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.4% for the third quarter, above the 0.3% estimates, while Germany’s GDP added 0.2%, topping the 0.1% estimated decline. At last glance, London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.6%, while the French CAC 40 and German DAX rise 1.7% and 1.2%, respectively.