Unemployment claims for last week saw a bigger-than-expected drop
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are slightly higher this morning. Traders are unpacking last week's bigger-than-expected decline in the number of unemployment claims, which dipped to 213,000 as opposed to the anticipated 215,000. Wholesale prices for January are also in focus, with the producer price index (PPI) rising 0.4% compared to estimates of a 0.3% pop, pointing to sticky inflation that could dissuade the Federal Reserve from pursuing interest rate cuts.
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5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 2 million call contracts and 1.1 million put contracts exchanged on Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.56 and the 21-day moving average slipped to 0.59.
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AppLovin Corp (NASDAQ:APP) stock is up a massive 27.9% in premarket trading, after the company
easily beat fourth-quarter earnings and expectations, and issued strong guidance. APP was the best tech stock of 2024 due to its advertising system, which uses artificial intelligence (AI). The stock now sports a 729.9% year-over-year lead.
- Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) reported a top- and bottom-line win for the fiscal second quarter, and also announced an upbeat earnings and revenue outlook for 2025. CSCO is up 6% ahead of the open, and added 37.6% over the past nine months.
- Reddit Inc (NYSE:RDDT) is down 8.9% before the bell, brushing off better-than-expected fourth-quarter results after the social media giant also saw a decline in users after a change in Google's search algorithm. RDDT still sports a 293.9% nine-month lead.
- More economic data is still on tap this week.
European, Asian Markets Mixed
Asian markets closed on both sides of the aisle on Thursday. The South Korean Kospi led the gainers with a 1.4% pop, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.3%. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively. There were several notable stocks making moves: per TBS, Japan-based automakers Honda and Nissan are set to toss out their merger talks, while Alibaba (BABA) jumped to two-year highs after its new artificial intelligence (AI) partnership with Apple (AAPL) was made official.
European markets are mixed amid growing trade tensions with the U.S. and increased optimism about an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. Investors are also unpacking a slew of corporate earnings reports, while U.K. gross domestic product (GDP) data showed 0.1% growth in the fourth quarter rather than the 0.1% decline anticipated by analysts. London’s FTSE 100 is off 0.5% at last glance as energy stocks weighed, while the French CAC 40 rises 1.4%, and the German DAX jumps 1.6%.