Stock Futures In Red After Morgan Stanley Report
Netflix will report earnings after the close
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are trading below fair value this morning, as attention stays on fourth-quarter earnings season. Traders are digesting Morgan Stanley's (MS) quarterly report, though the shares are set for sharp losses at the open. Later on, after the closing bell, Netflix (NFLX) earnings will be the major story, with blue chip American Express (AXP) also set to report. Also weighing on stocks this morning are reports of a U.S. criminal investigation into Huawei, fueling concerns about U.S.-China trade relations. Meanwhile, there will be a number of economic reports, too, including this morning's weekly jobless claims update, which came in below estimates.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
Morgan Stanley just backed a troubled Chinese e-commerce stock. An analyst's top small-cap growth pick. Option bulls have been targeting Apache stock. Plus, weed stock set to slide; EA shares hit again; and more chip sector weakness. 
5 Things You Need to Know Today
The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 985,591 call contracts traded on Wednesday, compared to 591,959 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio moved down to 0.60, and the 21-day moving average came in at 0.71. Aurora Cannabis Inc (NYSE:ACB) is trading down 8.9% before the open, following news of the company's $250 convertible debt offering. A losing session would snap the weed stock's six-day win streak. No one on Wall Street really wants to play with Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) anymore, as it seems the video game maker has been getting hit with negative news on the regular recently. Just yesterday, reports emerged that the company is stopping production of a "Star Wars" game, and this morning Jefferies downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy" and cut its price target by $44 to $95, saying the company "has a lot to prove" in 2019. EA stock is down 2.6% in pre-market trading.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE:TSM) is trading down 2% before the open, after the company released a dreary current-quarter revenue outlook. This comes after chipmakers struggled in the latter half of 2018, and in fact TSM stock was one of the first to contribute to that weakness early last year with its warning about smartphone demand. Data on housing starts, the Fed balance sheet, and the Philadelphia Fed business outlook survey are slated for today. American Express (AXP), Atlassian (TEAM), Fastenal (FAST), J B Hunt (JBHT), and KeyCorp (KEY) will all enter the earnings confessional.
Bank Stocks Struggle In Europe
It was a mostly lower finish in Asia today on buzz the U.S. is investigating Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Additionally, several mainland provinces reportedly lowered their full-year growth forecasts, sending China's Shanghai Composite down 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.2% on a strengthening yen, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was unable to recover from an intraday flash crash to settle down 0.5%. South Korea's Kospi, on the other hand, eked out a 0.05% gain.
European markets are trading in negative territory at midday, as bank stocks sell off on a fourth-quarter revenue warning from French financial firm Societe Generale. At last check, the French CAC 40 is off 0.5%, London's FTSE 100 is down 0.8%, and the German DAX is 0.4% lower.