Stock Futures Drift Lower Despite Walmart Earnings
Trade tensions remain high around the U.S.-China relationship
Dow futures are trading lower coming off yet another record high, as tensions remain high surrounding the U.S.-China trade conflict. The anxiety is overshadowing Walmart's (WMT) third-quarter earnings beat and raised full-year forecast, with the stock up 1.7% before the open. Meanwhile, Wall Street is also keeping an eye on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony today, along with this morning's jobless claims update, with the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits hitting a five-month high.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
2 stocks getting blasted by options bears after earnings. The technical signal that could mean even more downside for HPQ stock.Plus, Goldman downgrades KHC; OPRA steps into the earnings confessional; and AOBC plans Smith & Wesson spin-off.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 1.16 million call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 688,603 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio moved down to 0.58, while the 21-day moving average came in at 0.62. Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) is down 3.1% in electronic trading, following a downgrade from Goldman Sachs to "sell" from "neutral." The analyst predicted that Kraft Heinz's profit will continue to shrink, and that its EBITDA has not yet found a floor. The shares of Opera Ltd (NASDAQ:OPRA) are set to scale the Nasdaq today after the company posted third-quarter revenue that more than doubled last year's report, and three times the growth for its net income. The Norway-based online browser company also lifted its full-year forecast, citing 39% growth in monthly active users and increasing interest over its news app. The stock is eyeing its biggest one-day percentage gain on record, up 22% before the open. American Outdoor Brands Corp (NASDAQ:AOBC) said last night that it plans on separating its Smith & Wesson firearms business to be its own publicly traded company by the second half of 2020. AOBC is up 0.7% in response. Today will feature the producer price index (PPI), the Fed's balance sheet, and the holiday-delayed weekly crude inventories update slated for release. Additionally, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and New York Fed President John Williams will take the stage. Applied Materials (AMAT), Canopy Growth (CGC), International Game Technology (IGT), Nvidia (NVDA), SINA (SINA), and Weibo (WB) will step into the earnings confessional.
Trade Stalemate Weighs on Stocks in Europe, Asia
Asian markets were a mixed bag today, as investors weighed the reported stalemate in negotiations between the U.S. and China on a phase one trade deal. China's Shanghai Composite added 0.2%, although industrial production for October grew by 4.7% year-over-year, short of the 5.2% growth forecast. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gave back 0.9%, due to a subpar earnings reaction from tech giant Tencent. Japan's Nikkei paced the region with an 0.8% loss, while South Korea's Kospi added 0.8% after a big day from online company Naver.
In Europe, stocks are lower in response to the latest U.S.-China trade headlines. London's FTSE 100 is down 0.3% at last check as insurer 3i sinks after earnings, while the French CAC 40 is marginally lower. The German DAX is nursing a 0.4% loss, despite gross domestic product growing in the third quarter. Also weighing on the index is a drop in Daimler shares, after the German automaker announced a cost-cutting program.