OPENING CALL
Stock futures fell as a disappointing sales outlook from Intel had traders pushing equities lower.
Intel shares were down more than 10% in premarket trading, and the selloff dragged down other chip makers. Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia and Micron Technology were all lower premarket.
Additionally, investors will be looking ahead to the release of the Federal Reserve's favorite inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index.
Excluding food and energy, the index is expected to have risen 0.2% from November.
Overseas Markets
Luxury stocks soared in Europe after upbeat results from LVMH helped boost the sector. LVMH stock rose 9%; Gucci parent Kering and Hermès also rallied in Paris trading.
Asian stocks were mostly lower. Some Chinese biotech stocks plunged after U.S. politicians proposed a law that could restrict their access to the American market. That weighed on Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index.
Premarket Movers
Microsoft surpassed the $3 trillion market cap level on Thursday for the first time on a closing basis. The stock was down 0.7%.
Tesla fell 12% on Thursday, the largest percent decrease since Jan. 3, 2023, after it warned of slowing growth in 2024. Tesla was rising 0.3% premarket.
T-Mobile's fourth-quarter earnings missed analysts' estimates and the stock was down 3%. The company added 934,000 postpaid phone subscribers in the quarter, more than the 927,000 it added a year earlier and higher than analysts' estimates of 878,000.
Visa reported a slowdown in U.S. payments volume growth in January, citing extreme weather conditions. The stock was down 3.2%.
Western Digital reported a fiscal second-quarter adjusted loss of 69 cents a share, narrower than analysts' estimates that called for a loss of $1.12. Revenue fell 2% to $3.03 billion from $3.11 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Shares declined 5.7%.
Thursday's Post-Close Movers
KLA posted a profit miss in its fiscal second quarter amid weaker demand for its products. Shares of the maker of equipment for the semiconductor industry fell 5.9%.
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency issued a negative opinion on PTC Therapeutics' Translarna authorization following a re-examination procedure. Shares fell 12%.
Watch For:
Personal Income and Outlays; Earnings from American Express, Colgate Palmolive
Today's Top Headlines/Must Reads:
- What to Watch in Friday's Spending Report
- New Year Brings New Voters to Fed's Rate-Setting Committee
- Biden Pauses Approvals for LNG Exports
- Cyber Management Details Emerge Under SEC Rules
MARKET WRAPS
Forex:
Further declines in the euro following Thursday's fall could be limited as the PCE data could curtail the upside move in the dollar index and throw a floor under the weakness of EUR/USD around the 200-day moving average, Swissquote Bank said.
UniCredit Research said the EUR/USD currency pair remained sluggish as investors still anticipated substantial easing by the ECB this year.
"A bearish picture seems to remain of reference for this pair in the near term, given its difficulty holding and exceeding 1.09," it said.
Charts signaled that the risk of test of 1.0750/1.07 for EUR is concrete if the 1.08 baseline is also breached, but a further decline in the U.S. PCE core deflator for December might still offer the common currency a cushion on Friday, UniCredit said.
Energy:
Oil prices edged lower after settling at their highest level since late November in the previous session.
Oanda said WTI crude oil faces rising risks of a potential minor pullback, based on technical charts.
WTI oil's gains since the beginning of this week have lifted the hourly relative strength index's momentum indicator to close to an extremely overbought level, it added.
WTI oil has also risen to near the key medium-term resistance area of $78.00/bbl-$78.40/bbl.
Hence, odds have increased for a possible minor pullback to retrace part of an ongoing short-term uptrend phase, with the next intermediate support levels at $75.75/bbl, $75.30/bbl and $74.80/bbl, Oanda said.
Metals:
Base metals were mixed while gold traded slightly higher on solid economic data from the U.S. and China ramping up stimulus to prop up growth.
"The Chinese central bank's plans to cut RRR [reserve ratio requirements] and Beijing's stabilization measures which sparked a rally across the base metals and iron ore complex this week," Citi said.
It raised its three-month copper-price forecast to $8,800 a ton, citing tightness in the market.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
One Stock in the 'Magnificent Seven' Isn't So Magnificent
The stocks in the Magnificent Seven are off to the races again in 2024, with one notable exception: Tesla.
The electric-vehicle maker has been the laggard among the group of big technology stocks that powered markets higher last year. Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Nvidia have kept climbing to new highs, riding the mania around artificial intelligence and powering the broader market to repeated records as well.
Salesforce Laying Off 700 Workers in Latest Tech Industry Downsizing
Salesforce is laying off around 700 employees across the company in the latest round of layoffs to hit the tech industry, said a person familiar with its plans.
The layoffs comprise around 1% of the roughly 70,000-person company that makes cloud-based customer relationship management software. One year ago, it cut 10% of its workers or around 8,000 employees, amid pressure from investors to cut costs.
Berkshire, Hedge Funds Plow Into Liberty's Sirius Tracking Stock; Too Good to Be True?
The trade seems too easy to resist.
It has attracted a slew of notable hedge funds including Baupost Group, Millennium Management and Point72. Berkshire Hathaway is the largest participant and it added to its holding during January.
When Layoffs Happen, Remote Workers Are Hardest Hit
Laying off employees is complicated. New data suggests that managers tend to have an easier time showing remote workers the door.
Workers logging on from home five days a week were 35% more likely to be laid off in 2023 than their peers who put in office time, according to an analysis of two million white-collar workers conducted by employment data provider Live Data Technologies. The analysis showed 10% of fully remote workers were laid off last year, compared with 7% of those working in an office full time or on a hybrid basis.
Biden Campaign Contends With New Challenge: Hecklers From His Own Side
Activists opposing Israel's military offensive in Gaza interrupted President Biden during a rally Wednesday with auto workers, a day after they heckled him at a campaign speech-back-to-back outbursts that represent the loudest protest movement Biden has faced since taking office.
Demonstrators also disrupted a speech he gave earlier this month in a South Carolina church, yelled as he addressed auto workers in Illinois and confronted him at fundraisers in Washington and Minnesota. They also are stationing themselves outside nearly all of his public events when he travels around the country.
Jake Sullivan to Meet China's Wang Yi to Discuss Houthi Attacks in Red Sea
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan is flying to Thailand to discuss the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and a range of other issues with China's foreign minister Wang Yi, U.S. officials said.
A meeting between the two, scheduled for Jan. 26-27, "continues the commitment by both sides...to maintain strategic communication and responsibly manage the relationship," the White House said in a statement Thursday night.
U.K. to Pause Trade-Treaty Talks With Canada
OTTAWA-The U.K. said on Thursday it would pause negotiations with Canada on a comprehensive liberalized-trade treaty, citing a lack of progress. Canada said talks stalled over agriculture, and British reluctance to increase market access for the Canadian agrifood sector.
"We reserve the right to pause negotiations with any country if progress is not being made," according to a statement from the U.K. government, published on the social-media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, by the High Commissioner to Canada. The statement added that the U.K. would be willing to restart talks with Canada, so long as it benefits businesses and consumers "on both sides of the Atlantic."
Write to ina.kreutz@wsj.com
TODAY IN CANADA
Earnings:
Nothing scheduled
Economic Indicators (ET):
Nothing scheduled
Stocks to Watch:
HEALWELL AI To Acquire Intrahealth To Create Next Generation AI Powered EHR; Acquiring Intrahealth From WELL Health Technologies for About C$24.2M; Expects Transaction to Close on or About Feb. 1; Expects to Fund Majority of Transaction in Class A Subordinate Voting Shares; Transaction Will Also Result in WELL Becoming New Control Person; Independent Directors Unanimously Approved Transaction; Is a Healthcare Tech Co Focused on AI and Data Science for Preventative Care; Intrahealth Is an SaaS-Based Electronic Health Record Provider
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Lightspeed Announces Launch of Lightspeed Scheduling to Enable Golf Courses to Manage and Grow Off-Course Services
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Mithaq Capital SPC Buys More Aimia Shares; Now Has Ownership of, or Control or Direction Over, About 27.55% of Aimia Issued and Outstanding Common Shrs
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Psyence Biomedical Shares to Begin Trading Publicly on Jan. 26
Expected Major Events for Friday
00:01/UK: Jan UK Consumer Confidence Survey
05:00/JPN: Nov Indexes of Business Conditions - Revision
07:00/GER: Feb GfK consumer climate survey
07:45/FRA: Jan Consumer confidence survey
09:30/UK: Dec Capital issuance statistics
13:30/US: Dec Personal Income and Outlays
15:00/US: Dec Pending Home Sales Index
All times in GMT. Powered by Kantar Media and Dow Jones.
Expected Earnings for Friday
ASA Gold & Precious Metals Ltd (ASA) is expected to report for 4Q.
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
01-26-24 0621ET
