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Stock Market Today: Main indexes open marginally higher after mixed US data


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  • Major equity indexes in the US opened modestly higher on Thursday.
  • Retail Sales in the US declined by 0.8% in January.
  • The Real Estate sector is up more than 1% after the opening bell.

The S&P 500 (SPX) index rises 0.18% to trade at 5,009.64, the Dow Jones (DJIA) increases 0.24% to 38,515.98, and the Nasdaq (IXIC) is virtually unchanged 15,848.00 at the time of writing.

What to know as stock markets open

  • The Real Estate Sector is up nearly 1.5% as the best-performing major S&P 500 sector after the opening bell. The Communication Services Sector is down more than 0.5%. 
  • Zebra Technologies Corp. (ZBRA) is the biggest gainer in the early trade, rising over 15% to trade at $291.5. West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (WST) shared are down nearly 20% at $335.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell 9.27% on Wednesday. Ahead of the opening bell on Thursday, VIX stays flat.
  • Retail Sales in the US declined by 0.8% to $700.3 billion in January, the US Census Bureau reported on Thursday. This reading came in weaker than the market expectation for a decrease of 0.1%. Retail Sales ex Autos contracted by 0.6% in the same period.
  • There were 212,000 first-time applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending February 10, down from 220,000 in the previous week, the US Department of Labor announced. 
  • Inflation in the US, as measured by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), softened to 3.1% on a yearly basis in January from 3.4% in December, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Tuesday. This reading came in above the market expectation of 2.9%.
  • The Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.9% in the same period and matched December’s increase, surpassing analysts’ estimate of 3.7%.
  • On Friday, the BLS will release Producer Price Index (PPI) figures.
  • According to the CME FedWatch Tool, there is a nearly 40% probability of a Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cut in May, down from nearly 55% ahead of the January inflation data.
  • On Tuesday, Coca-Cola Co. (KO) reported that revenue rose 7.4% to $10.95 billion from a year ago for the quarter ended in December, per Reuters. The company announced that the quarterly net income was $1.97 billion for that period and cited higher product prices and robust demand for the upbeat results.
  • Airbnb Inc. (ABNB) said after the closing bell on Tuesday that quarterly adjusted earnings were 76 cents per share in the quarter ended in December. The company’s revenue increased 16.6% to $2.22 billion from a year ago, but there was a quarterly loss of $349 million.
  • Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) announced quarterly adjusted earnings per share were 87 cents in the quarter ended in January. The networking equipment manufacturer said the revenue fell 5.9% to $12.79 billion from a year ago, while the quarterly net income was $2.63 billion in the same period. In a conference call, CEO Charles Robbins said, “we also continue to see weak demand with our telco and cable service provider customers,” per Reuters. The company is reportedly planning to cut more than 4,000 jobs and focus on high-growth areas such as artificial intelligence and software.
  • Applied Materials, Inc (AMAT), DoorDash Inc. (DASH) and Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) are among top companies that will report quarterly earnings after the closing bell on Thursday.

Nasdaq FAQs

The Nasdaq is a stock exchange based in the US that started out life as an electronic stock quotation machine. At first, the Nasdaq only provided quotations for over-the-counter (OTC) stocks but later it became an exchange too. By 1991, the Nasdaq had grown to account for 46% of the entire US securities’ market. In 1998, it became the first stock exchange in the US to provide online trading. The Nasdaq also produces several indices, the most comprehensive of which is the Nasdaq Composite representing all 2,500-plus stocks on the Nasdaq, and the Nasdaq 100.

The Nasdaq 100 is a large-cap index made up of 100 non-financial companies from the Nasdaq stock exchange. Although it only includes a fraction of the thousands of stocks in the Nasdaq, it accounts for over 90% of the movement. The influence of each company on the index is market-cap weighted. The Nasdaq 100 includes companies with a significant focus on technology although it also encompasses companies from other industries and from outside the US. The average annual return of the Nasdaq 100 has been 17.23% since 1986.

There are a number of ways to trade the Nasdaq 100. Most retail brokers and spread betting platforms offer bets using Contracts for Difference (CFD). For longer-term investors, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) trade like shares that mimic the movement of the index without the investor needing to buy all 100 constituent companies. An example ETF is the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ). Nasdaq 100 futures contracts allow traders to speculate on the future direction of the index. Options provide the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the Nasdaq 100 at a specific price (strike price) in the future.

Many different factors drive the Nasdaq 100 but mainly it is the aggregate performance of the component companies revealed in their quarterly and annual company earnings reports. US and global macroeconomic data also contributes as it impacts on investor sentiment, which if positive drives gains. The level of interest rates, set by the Federal Reserve (Fed), also influences the Nasdaq 100 as it affects the cost of credit, on which many corporations are heavily reliant. As such the level of inflation can be a major driver too as well as other metrics which impact on the decisions of the Fed.