Stock Market Futures Rebounding Following Monday’s Losses
Stock market futures appear to be stabilizing in early morning trading on Tuesday. Overall, some would argue that this could be an expected reaction to yesterday’s declines. Even so, investors will still have to consider the possible long-term effects of a variety of factors in the stock market today. This includes the fast-spreading Omicron Covid variant, the Fed’s interest rate hike plans in 2022, and the latest news on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill.
Notably, Meera Pandit, a global market strategist at JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) Asset Management, highlighted the firm’s stance on the current market trajectory. She recently said, “We’re seeing broad-based sell-off in risk assets, but ultimately if we think about the longer arc of time, I’m not sure these are going to meaningfully change our outlook for 2022 in terms of investing,” Pandit continued, “On the virus side, ultimately what we’ve seen with prior surges and prior variants is that market sell-offs tend to be somewhat contained to a period of time, so we do expect that as we get better and better at dealing with some of these challenges from the economic and market perspective, things will likely settle down despite some of the public health challenges we have ahead.”
Regardless of whether you agree with Pandit or not, the stock market today is jam-packed with news to consider. As of 7:25 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading higher by 0.93%, 0.99%, and 1.15% respectively.
Nike Shares Jumps On Strong Sales Figures
Nike (NYSE: NKE) is likely among the companies turning heads in the stock market today. This would be the case as the sports apparel titan posted stellar figures in its latest quarterly earnings report yesterday. Nike topped analyst estimates across the board. In detail, the company posted an earnings per share of $0.83 on revenue of $11.36 billion. For reference, Wall Street’s estimates were $0.63 and $11.25 billion respectively. More importantly, all of this is despite the supposed ongoing supply chain pressures Nike is facing now. Investors appear to be responding positively, with NKE stock gaining by over 3% during pre-market trading today.
For the most part, things appear to be looking up for Nike in the long run. CEO John Donahoe recently provided a positive update on the company’s current position in the retail space. Namely, Donahoe noted that Nike is in a “much stronger competitive position” than it was pre-pandemic. Accordingly, the company cites growing sales in the North American market, its biggest market, as a key growth driver for the quarter. In fact, sales in the region hiked by 12% year-over-year, the highest growth amongst all its geographies. Additionally, CFO Matt Friend highlighted that Nike’s Vietnamese factories are back to about 80% of pre-closure levels. Given the company’s current momentum, I could see NKE stock having more room to run in the stock market now.
[Read More] Top Stocks To Buy Now? 4 Renewable Energy Stocks For Your Watchlist
GSK, Pfizer Receive FDA Approval For Injectable HIV PrEP Treatment
In other news, GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) are making headway on the regulatory front. Earlier today, the duo received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their joint work on cabotegravir. In essence, cabotegravir is an injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) option to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1. This win comes via ViiV Healthcare, a global specialist HIV company majority-owned by GSK with Pfizer as a shareholder. To elaborate, the drug candidate is now approved as a long-acting injectable for use in adults and adolescents.
Overall, the treatment demonstrates superior efficacy to a daily oral PrEP option (FTC/TDF tablets) in reducing the risk of HIV acquisition. By and large, ViiV Healthcare CEO Deborah Waterhouse said, “ViiV Healthcare is proud that Apretude was studied in one of the most diverse and comprehensive HIV prevention trial programs to date, which also included some of the largest numbers of transgender women and Black men who have sex with men ever enrolled in an HIV prevention trial. With Apretude [cabotegravir], people can reduce the risk of acquiring HIV with as few as six injections a year. Today’s approval is the latest example of ViiV Healthcare’s commitment to developing long-acting medicines that offer consumers a different choice.” Looking at the importance of Pfizer’s and GSK’s work on this front, both companies’ shares could be worth watching today.
[Read More] Best Cyclical Stocks To Buy Today? 4 In Focus
Micron Stock Jumps After Earnings Beat
Elsewhere, Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) also seems to be gaining traction in the stock market now thanks to its latest earnings release. To point out, the memory chip tech company posted an earnings per share of $2.16 on revenue of $7.69 billion. Respectively, this marks solid year-over-year gains of over 176% and 33%. As a result of all this, MU stock is gaining by over 6% in pre-market trading today.
All in all, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra cited Micron’s “strong product portfolio momentum” as the main contributor to this quarter’s performance. He also added that Micron continues to ship its industry-leading DRAM and NAND tech across major end markets. This includes the 5G, artificial intelligence, and electric vehicle fields. All of which, according to Mehrotra, is currently riding “powerful secular trends” that continue to fuel demand growth. In the larger scheme of things, Micron seems to be looking to ride the current data-storage industry tailwinds. Considering the role of Micron’s data storage offerings in an increasingly tech-reliant world, investors may be keeping an eye on MU stock today.
Earnings Worth Noting In The Stock Market Today
Not to mention, investors also have a wide array of companies to consider in terms of earnings today. In the pre-market, we have General Mills (NYSE: GIS), FactSet (NYSE: FDS), Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD), Enerpac (NYSE: EPAC), and Neogen (NASDAQ: NEOG) among others. On the flip side, the likes of BlackBerry (NYSE: BB) and AAR Corporation (NYSE: AIR) are on tap after the closing bell. Even with the Christmas-shortened trading week, there is plenty of stock market news to keep investors on their toes now.
If you enjoyed this article and you’re interested in learning how to trade so you can have the best chance to profit consistently then you need to checkout this YouTube channel. CLICK HERE RIGHT NOW!
