Stock Futures Slide Ahead Of FAANG Earnings
Stock futures are pointed lower to kick off the new month, as traders continue to digest the Fed statement that sent bond yields surging Wednesday afternoon. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are down nearly 120 points, while Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are also trading well below fair value amid mixed earnings reactions from the likes of Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook (FB). Expect the tech sector to remain in focus today, as FAANG stocks Amazon.com (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Apple (AAPL) are all slated to release their quarterly results after the closing bell.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
The SPY rival contrarians can't ignore, according to founder and CEO Bernie Schaeffer.How Apple reacted to a rare downgrade. The Dow stock to target ahead of earnings.Plus, PayPal gets dumped by eBay again, while Qualcomm and Alibaba report earnings. 
5 Things You Need to Know Today
The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.1 million call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 631,533 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.59, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.55.PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) is tumbling this morning, down 5.7% in electronic trading, after eBay (EBAY) further separated from its former subsidiary by naming Dutch firm Adyen as its preferred global payments processor. PayPal stock touched a record high of $86.32 yesterday, and had tacked on 114% over the last 52 weeks. Shares of QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) are down 0.9% ahead of the bell, despite the chipmaker reporting earnings and revenueabove estimates. QCOMissued weaker-than-expected guidance for the current quarter, prompted by softer orders from a major customer -- presumed by many to be Apple. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) is down 3.9% in electronic trading, after the Chine e-commerce giant posted earnings slightly below estimates. Revenue and cloud computing revenue, however, came in above forecasts. Alibaba stock broke above the $200 level earlier this week, culminating in a record high of $206.20 yesterday.Motor vehicle sales, productivity and labor costs, Markit's manufacturing PMI, the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) manufacturing index, construction spending, and the Fed's balance sheet are due today. Visa (V),CME Group (CME), Deckers Outdoor (DECK), GoPro (GPRO), MasterCard (MA), Mattel (MAT), Ralph Lauren (RL), and United Parcel Service (UPS) will report earnings. 
Stocks Fighting For Air In Asia, Europe
It was a mixed trading session for Asian equity benchmarks, with Chinese stocks suffering sharp losses. The Shanghai Composite fell 1%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined by 0.8%. Investors there ignored another round of positive economic data for the country, as the Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) beat out expectations in January. Japan's Nikkei still managed a big day, however, thanks mostly to a weaker yen. By the close, the index was up 1.7%. South Korea's Kospi also closed higher, finishing up 0.1%.
Meanwhile, European stocks are fighting for positive territory at the halfway point. A number of tech names are making strong post-earnings moves, including Nokia, which posted a top- and bottom-line beat. As for economic data, the January manufacturing PMI for the eurozone matched expectations. The French CAC 40 was leading the way at last check, up 0.2%, while Britain's FTSE 100 and the German DAX were both down 0.1%.