US stock futures turned higher on Friday, in an extension of yesterday’s session, where stock prices had climbed to new record highs after Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said the US and China would sign their "phase one" trade agreement in early January.
All three major US indices clinched fresh all-time highs into the close. The S&P 500 rose +0.41%, the Nasdaq Composite advanced +0.63%, and the Dow Jones added +0.44% to its value.
Investors had been undeterred by the impeachment of President Trump, with a Republican-controlled Senate poised to clear Trump’s allegations stemming from a phone call with Ukraine’s president.
Ahead, as investors count down to the holiday season, markets are expected to trade with increased volumes today, as major indexes are re-balanced, in what's known as quadruple witching.
In today’s economic calendar, Friday includes; the third estimate for third-quarter GDP, where economists expect GDP to rise 2.1%.
The calendar also includes; Personal Income and Outlays for November and Consumer Expectations and Sentiment for December at 10am EST.
Earnings are expected today from; CarMax (KMX) and Winnebago Industries (WGO).
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Politics: Boris Johnson’s Brexit Bill Set To Be Passed Through UK Parliament. (CNBC)
UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, will test out his new parliamentary majority on Friday by putting his Brexit bill to a new vote in the House of Commons.
ECONOMIC CALENDAR
Today's Economical Announcements.
08:30AM - ★★★ - GDP (QoQ) (Q3) (Previous: 2.1%)
10:00AM - ★☆☆ - Personal Income (MoM) (Nov) (Previous: 0.0%)
10:00AM - ★★☆ - Personal Spending (MoM) (Nov) (Previous: 0.3%)
10:00AM - ★★☆ - Michigan Consumer Expect. (Dec) (Previous: 88.9)
10:00AM - ★★☆ - Michigan Consumer Senti. (Dec) (Previous: 99.2)
STOCKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Pre-Market Movers & News Related Stocks.
CarMax (KMX): [EARNINGS] Earned $1.04 per share for its third quarter, falling short of the $1.16 a share consensus estimate. Revenue was above forecasts, however, and comparable-dealer sales were up 7.5% compared to the consensus 6.2% estimate of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. CarMax noted an increase in advertising expenses during the quarter.
Michaels Cos. (MIK): [DOWNGRADE] Downgraded to “underweight” from “equal-weight” at Morgan Stanley, which said the arts and crafts retailer faces challenges to revenue growth and profit margins. It also cut its price target on the stock to $5 per share from $7 a share.
Winnebago (WGO): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 15 cents a share, with quarterly profit of 73 cents per share. Revenue also came in well above forecasts, boosted by strong sales in both the motor home and towables segments.
Scholastic Corp. (SCHL): [EARNINGS] Reported adjusted quarterly profit of $2.06 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77a share. The children’s book publisher’s revenue also beat forecasts, helped by growth in the company’s book fairs business.
BlackBerry (BB): [EARNINGS] Earned 3 cents per share for the third quarter, a penny a share above estimates. Revenue also came in above Wall Street forecasts. The company said it saw sequential revenue growth across all of its software businesses.
Nike (NKE): [EARNINGS] Reported quarterly earnings of 70 cents per share, 12 cents above estimates. The athletic footwear and apparel maker’s revenue came in above Wall Street forecasts as well. Nike shares have come under pressure despite the beat, after rising in 11 of the past 12 days and closing at a record high Thursday.
Apple (AAPL): [REVIEW] Piper Jaffray raised its price target on the stock to $305 per share from $290 a share, pointing in part to high early interest in a potential 5G iPhone.
Biogen (BIIB): [NEWS] Announced a $5 billion stock buyback program. The drug company said the new buyback is in addition to a $5 billion program previously authorized in March.
Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM): [REVIEW] Wells Fargo Securities analyst Mike Mayo raised his price target on Citi to $97 per share from $85 a share, citing increasing earnings and the ongoing presence of activist investor ValueAct. Mayo also raised his price target on JPMorgan to $150 a share from $125 per share, after raising earnings estimates for the bank based on an improving credit environment.
Facebook (FB): [NEWS] Experienced a data breach that exposed personal data from more than 267 million users, according to cybersecurity experts. Facebook said it is investigating, but added that it appears the exposed data was from a period of time before new security improvements implemented over the past few years.
MOMENTUM STOCKS
GAINERS: RAD, CAG, MTCH, IAC
DECLINERS: DRI
TODAY'S IPOs
None.
