
Bank Earnings, Economic Data, Iran Concerns Drive Markets
Thomas White
Co-HostU.S. stock futures are lower ahead of the Wall Street open and are extending yesterday’s modest losses.
Stocks posted a losing session on Tuesday, led by a nearly 400-point decline in the Dow. Financials were the worst-performing group after JPMorgan Chase (JPM) fell over 4% despite beating earnings estimates.
Inflation data came in below expectations on Core numbers with the year-over-year figures at 2.6%, which initially gave equities a boost yesterday morning.
President Trump’s attacks on Fed Chair Powell and interest rates has created headline risks for stocks this week after the S&P 500 hit an all-time high on Monday.
Investor focus will remain on earnings today with reports due from more financial companies along with economic data.
Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)
- Oil (/CL) – Oil prices are up 1% near $61.75 a barrel and rose for a fifth straight session on fears of Iranian supply disruptions due to deadly civil unrest and as the U.S. and Iran traded threats.
- Gold (/GC) – Gold prices are up 1% near $4640 and jumped to a record high overnight while silver futures (/SI) broke above $90 for the first time. Escalating tension in Iran and concern over the Federal Reserve’s autonomy fueled safe-haven demand, while softer inflation readings boosted rate cut bets.
- Bitcoin (/BTC) – The Crypto Future is up 0.8% near 95,300 in premarket trading.
- VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index was up 5.7% on Tuesday and settled at 15.98 as stocks fell modestly.
- U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is flat at 98.9.
Biggest Premarket Movers (as of 7 AM ET - Mark % Change)
- Mosaic (MOS): +2.37%
- Huntington Ingalls (HII): +2.03%
- Intel (INTC): +1.76%
- Freeport McMoRan (FCX): +1.53%
- Netflix (NFLX): +1.49%
- Fortinet (FTNT): -3.36%
- Palo Alto Networks (PANW): -2.02%
- D.R. Horton (DHI): -1.77%
- Intuit (INTU): -1.70%
- Wells Fargo (WFC): -1.67%
Economic Data
- 7:00 AM ET: MBA Mortgage Applications
- 8:30 AM ET: PPI (Delayed), Retail Sales (Delayed)
- 9:50 AM ET: Fed’s Paulson Speaks
- 10:00 AM ET: Existing Home Sales, Fed’s Miran Speaks, Business Inventories (Delayed)
- 10:30 AM ET: Oil Inventories
- 12:00 PM ET: Fed’s Bostic Speaks, Fed’s Kashkari Speaks
- 2:00 PM ET: Beige Book
- 2:10 PM ET: Fed’s Williams Speaks
Notable Earnings
- Premarket: BAC, C, INFY, WFC
- Postmarket: FUL
- Premarket Tomorrow: BLK, FHN, GS, MS, TSM
- Postmarket Tomorrow: JBHT
Upgrades/Downgrades
- Stephens upgrades Okta (OKTA) to Overweight from Equal Weight
- Wolfe Research upgrades Cheniere Energy (LNG) to Outperform from Peer Perform
- TD Cowen upgrades CME Group (CME) to Buy from Hold
- Guggenheim downgrades Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to Neutral from Buy
- TD Cowen downgrades BlackRock (BLK) to Hold from Buy
- Jefferies downgrades Tapestry (TPR) to Hold from Buy
