
Morning Watchlist: Heavy Economic Data, Powell Speaks
U.S. stock futures are lower ahead of the Wall Street open after a mixed session for stocks on Wednesday. The optimistic moves for stocks are on the back of the Trump administration and China hammering out a temporary suspension of their tariff dispute along with investment announcements out of the Middle East.
On the corporate front, shares of Foot Locker (FL) are spiking 80% after Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) agreed to buy the sportwear company for $2.4B. Walmart (WMT) shares are higher after the retailer posted a beat on earnings EPS with revenue coming in line with estimates this morning.
Focus today will be on earnings fallouts along with plenty of economic data, including PPI, Retail Sales and Jobless Claims. On top of that, Fed Chair Powell speaks this morning in Washington D.C.
Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)
- Oil (/CL) – Oil prices are dumping over 3% near $61 a barrel on expectations that the U.S. and Iran may soon reach a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program. President Donald Trump said the U.S. may be getting closer to an agreement with Iran to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear program according to a Bloomberg report.
- Gold (/GC) – Gold prices are down 0.3% near $3180 after dropping more than 2% on Wednesday, hitting an almost five-week low, as rising trade optimism boosted risk appetite, leading investors to shift away from bullion.
- Bitcoin (/BTC) – The crypto future is down over 1% near $102K in the premarket.
- VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index was up 2.2% on Wednesday and settled at 18.62 as stocks were mixed. It is slightly elevated this morning.
- U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is flat around 100.8.
Biggest Premarket Movers (Mark % Change as of 7 AM ET)
- Cisco (CSCO): +3.33%
- Boeing (BA): +1.60%
- Starbucks (SBUX): +1.16%
- UnitedHealth (UNH): -6.50%
- APA Corp. (APA): -2.20%
- Diamondback Energy (FANG): -2.02%
Economic Data
- 8:30AM ET: PPI, Retail Sales, Jobless Claims, Philly Fed Mfg. Index, Empire State Mfg. Index
- 8:40AM ET: Fed’s Powell Speaks
- 9:15AM ET: Industrial Production
- 10:00AM ET: Business Inventories, Housing Market Index
- 10:30AM ET: Natural Gas Inventories
- 11:00AM ET: Treasury Buyback Announcement
- 2:05PM ET: Fed’s Barr Speaks
- 4:30PM ET: Fed Balance Sheet
Notable Earnings
- Premarket: BABA, BIRK, CSIQ, DE, BEKE, NTES, WMT, WKHS, ZK
- Postmarket: AMAT, CAVA, DOCS, QUBT, TTWO, SPCE
- Premarket Tomorrow: FLO
- Postmarket Tomorrow: None
Upgrades/Downgrades
- Wells Fargo upgrades Cisco (CSCO) to Overweight from Equal Weight
- Wolfe Research upgrades Pinterest (PINS) to Outperform from Peer Perform
- Jefferies upgrades Petrobras (PBR) to Buy from Hold
- TD Cowen downgrades Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) to Hold from Buy
- Mizuho downgrades CrowdStrike (CRWD) to Neutral from Outperform
- Raymond James downgrades JetBlue (JBLU) to Market Perform from Outperform