Stock Futures Flat, Gold on the Rise Again
It could be another quiet day on Wall Street
Stock futures are signaling another tepid trading session, as investors continue to await this week's G-20 summit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) closed near breakeven on Monday, and futures on the index are pointing to a quiet start today, as others look forward to an afternoon speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. In the meantime, gold prices keep pushing higher, with August-dated futures up 0.7% at $1,428.50 an ounce. Also in focus is big M&A buzz out of the healthcare sector, after Botox maker Allergan (AGN) agreed to be bought by Humira parent AbbVie (ABV) for $63 billion.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
Schaeffer's Senior V.P. of Research Todd Salamone discusses the importance of using options to manage risk during geopolitical drama. Short-term traders took aim at Twitter and Disney stocks. The government contractor poised for another big earnings move. Plus, GrubHub grabs a bull note; Shopify shares get downgraded; and Google peers team up for probe.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 858,390 call contracts traded on Monday, compared to 507,784 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio edged up to 0.59, while the 21-day moving average was 0.64.Food delivery specialist GrubHub Inc (NYSE:GRUB) is trading up 5.2% this morning after Citigroup upgraded its opinion to "buy" and boosted its price target to $91 from $75. The brokerage firm sees a promising near-term setup for the shares, citing a strong relationship with big-name restaurants like McDonald's (MCD) in important markets. Earlier this month, GRUB was mentioned as a potential buyout target for Amazon.Shopify Inc (NYSE:SHOP) has had a big year on the charts, but Wedbush believes it's time to take profits on the e-commerce concern. In an analyst note this morning, the firm downgraded SHOP stock to "neutral" from "outperform," though it also lifted its price target to $305 from $270. A report from the Wall Street Journal yesterday said that rivals of Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, such as TripAdvisor (TRIP) and Yelp (YELP), are working with the Justice Department (subscription required) to build an antitrust case against the search giant. GOOGL shares have suffered two bear gaps in 2019, and are now testing their 200-day moving average. Today's schedule will feature the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index, new home sales, consumer confidence data, and remarks from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. FedEx (FDX), Micron Technology (MU), and AeroVironment (AVAV) will step into the earnings confessional.
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Little Buying in Asian, European Markets
Markets in Asia ended lower amid shaky sentiment ahead of the G-20 summit meeting between the U.S. and China on Friday. China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.9% as bank stocks fell on a Washington Post report that Shanghai Pudong Development Bank may be banned from the U.S. financial system after refusing to cooperate in a North Korean sanctions investigation. Hong Kong's Hang Seng suffered a 1.2% loss, South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.2%, and Japan's Nikkei was 0.4% lower.
The newly imposed U.S. sanctions against Iran have European markets inching below breakeven. The French CAC 40 and the German DAX have lost about 0.1% each so far as French stocks get hit by a crumbling auto sector. London's FTSE 100 is down just 0.06% as Britain digests more "no deal" Brexit threats from prime minister candidate Boris Johnson.