The U.S. Presidential election is today
Stock futures are modestly higher this morning following yesterday's slide. All eyes are on Washington, D.C. as the U.S. Presidential election gets underway, with investors still speculating what the outcome of the neck-and-neck race will be. Oil prices are modestly higher ahead of the event, while the U.S. trade deficit surged 19.2% to $84.4 billion in September -- a 30-month high -- as imports hit record highs ahead of a strike at U.S. ports early last month.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- 2 risks to watch this week, per Schaeffer's Senior V.P. of Research Todd Salamone.
- Utility stocks moving after Amazon-Talen deal falls through.
- Plus, DJT on the rise, and 2 stocks moving after earnings.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw over 1.2 million call contracts and 739,710 put contracts exchanged on Monday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.61 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.63.
- Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (NASDAQ:DJT) is up 8.9% premarket, as investors continue to bet on the likelihood of Trump winning the election. Year to date, the equity is up 96.6%.
- Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) stock is up 16.9% before the bell, after the cybersecurity name's better-than-expected third-quarter results, helped by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Since the start of 2024, the PLTR is up 141.2%.
- Shares of NXP Semiconductors Inc (NASDAQ:NXPI) are down 8.8% in electronic trading after the chip company's disappointing fourth-quarter forecast, which cast a shadow on its third-quarter earnings beat. Should these losses hold, NXPI will slip into negative territory for the year.
- What else is coming up this week on Wall Street.
Inflation Cools in South Korea
Asian markets were all over the place today. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tacked on 2.1%, while Japan’s Nikkei added 1.1%. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5%, even after consumer inflation rose by a cooler-than-expected margin to its slowest pace since early 2021. The Shanghai Composite paced the region with a 2.3% pop, after China’s services sector clocked its fastest growth in three months.
Over in Europe, bourses are muted ahead of the election stateside. London’s FTSE 100 is off by 0.1% at last check, shrugging off a breakout from fintech stock Wise. The French CAC 40 and German DAX are 0.1% and 0.2% higher, respectively.