
Heavy Fedspeak Day Previews Rate Cut Path
Thomas White
Co-HostU.S. stock futures are relatively flat in premarket trading after settling at more record highs. Stocks rose to new heights on Monday, fueled by enthusiasm about a potential acceleration in mergers and acquisitions activity and an upcoming Federal Reserve rate cut.
The benchmark S&P 500 (SPX) is on a 7-session win streak and settled at its 32nd record high close yesterday. The record-breaking market comes as investors have pushed aside concerns tied to the current U.S. government shutdown that is now on its second week.
Investor focus will be on Fedspeak today along with trade data and a 3-Year Note Auction.
Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)
- Oil (/CL) – Oil prices are flat near $61.70 a barrel as a smaller-than-expected November output hike by OPEC+ helped to ease some fears of a growing supply glut.
- Gold (/GC) – Gold futures are up 0.3% near $3985 and hit a record high overnight above $4000 for the first time as there were no signs of a reprieve from an impasse between the two houses of the U.S. Congress that had led to a government shutdown, while near-certain bets of a Federal Reserve rate cut this month provided support.
- Bitcoin (/BTC) – The Crypto Future is down 0.7% near 125,300 in premarket trading after hitting all-time highs yesterday.
- VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index was down 1.7% on Monday and settled at 16.37 as stocks hit record levels.
- U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is up 0.4% to 98.2.
Biggest Premarket Movers (Mark % Change as of 7 AM ET)
- IBM (IBM): +4.64%
- AMD (AMD): +3.75%
- Intercontinental Exchange (ICE): +3.70%
- Dollar Tree (DLTR): -3.68%
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): -2.00%
- PulteGroup (PHM): -1.83%
Economic Data
- 8:30AM ET: Intl. Trade in Goods & Services
- 10:00AM ET: Fed’s Bostic Speaks, Fed’s Bowman Speaks
- 10:30AM ET: Fed’s Miran Speaks
- 11:30AM ET: Fed’s Kashkari Speaks
- 1:00PM ET: 3-Year Note Auction
- 3:00PM ET: Consumer Credit
- 4:05PM ET: Fed’s Miran Speaks
Notable Earnings
- Premarket: MKC
- Postmarket: None
- Premarket Tomorrow: None
- Postmarket Tomorrow: AZZ
Upgrades/Downgrades
- Jefferies upgrades AMD (AMD) to Buy from Hold
- Seaport Research upgrades Netflix (NFLX) to Buy from Neutral
- JPMorgan upgrades Brinker (EAT) to Overweight from Neutral
- Evercore ISI downgrades Toll Brothers (TOL), D.R. Horton (DHI), PulteGroup (PHM) & KB Home (KBH) to In Line from Outperform
- Citi downgrades GE Healthcare (GEHC) to Neutral from Buy
- UBS downgrades Autoliv (ALV) to Neutral from Buy
