Stock Market Futures Mixed Ahead Of Fed’s Press Conference
Stock market futures remain mostly unchanged in early morning trading on Wednesday. Understandably so as investors could be playing their cards close to their chests given mentions about the Federal Reserve’s focus on interest rates now. To point out, the committee behind these decisions remains somewhat divided on the matter. At its latest meeting, half of the members believed there would be no rate hikes through 2022 while the others thought otherwise.
To help provide some insight into all of this is William Sels, HSBC’s (NYSE: HSBC) Global Private Banking and Wealth chief investment officer. Sels begins by saying, “The Fed is trying to separate the two and saying, listen, the fact that we start with tapering now doesn’t mean that we start hiking interest rates later on … The reason, of course, is because there is that uncertainty around the economy, around the labor market, which still has five million more people out of the job market than before the pandemic. And then also, when will inflation come down?“
Despite all that, Sels sees some more room for markets to grow. He believes that as strong earnings continue to roll in and interest rate chatter cools, markets could continue to “drift up, albeit with some more volatility than before”. In the midst of all this, investors also have plenty of stock market news to catch up on today. As of 6:20 a.m. ET, the Dow and S&P 500 futures are down by 0.11% and 0.07% respectively. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq futures are trading higher by 0.10%
Bed Bath & Beyond Soaring On News Of Kroger Partnership
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) appears to be looking at growth beyond its meme stocks hype phase. For the most part, BBBY identifies as an “omnichannel retailer” that caters to consumers’ home product needs. This is possible via its Home, Baby, Beauty, and Wellness divisions. By and large, the demand for the company’s wares could persist well into the holiday season. With that in mind, I can understand investors’ reactions to BBBY’s latest partnership.
In detail, the company is now working together with consumer staples giant Kroger (NYSE: KR). Through this partnership, BBBY’s extensive array of home goods will be available to Kroger customers nationwide in 2022. This will see BBBY’s best wares on sale via Kroger’s vast network of physical stores alongside its e-commerce portal.
As a result of this move, BBBY stock is rising by over 50% during pre-market trading today. Despite more or less ending its recent run as a meme stock among retail investors, BBBY stock appears to be in full focus yet again. With the company significantly expanding its market reach through Kroger’s storefronts, some could see BBBY stock as a top stock to watch right now.
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Activision Under The Microscope After Latest Quarterly Update
Among the big names that reported earnings yesterday was Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI). Diving right in, the gaming industry titan posted an earnings per share of $0.72 on revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter. Both of these values are in line with Wall Street’s estimates for the quarter. As the popularity of Activision’s core IPs ranging from the Call of Duty franchise to its CandyCrush mobile game continues to rise, one question remains. Can Activision maintain its current momentum in a post-pandemic market?
Because of the company’s response to the question, ATVI stock slid by over 10% after yesterday’s closing bell. Namely, Activision’s revenue outlook for the fourth quarter came in just below analyst estimates. This is a $2.78 billion outlook from the company versus projections of $2.95 billion.
Even so, the company remains on track to release the latest flagship version of its Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty Vanguard later this week. All in all, Activision appears to be relying on its latest offerings to drive momentum throughout the current quarter. Even with its seemingly conservative outlook, CEO Bobby Kotick expects “continued success in the fourth quarter”. Regardless, I would not be surprised to see investors keeping an eye on ATVI stock in the stock market today.
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Qualcomm Earnings On Tap After Today’s Closing Bell
In other tech-related news, Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) will be reporting its latest quarterly figures after today’s closing bell. Notably, it would be among the top highlights among tech investors in the stock market this week. After all, Qualcomm’s chips are essentially the gold standard for mobile communications tech in today’s market. This means that it would stand to benefit from consumers looking to pick up new smart devices this quarter. Even with all that said, those eyeing QCOM stock today would be wondering just what is in-stored.
For starters, Wall Street sees Qualcomm posting a total revenue of $8.84 billion for the quarter. This would suggest a respectable year-over-year increase of 36%. Additionally, analysts also project that it will post an earnings per share of $2.26, indicating a solid 56% year-over-year hike.
Arguably, Qualcomm is now at the heart of the 5G upgrade cycle across consumers and industrial markets. As such, some could argue that another earnings beat could be in the books for Qualcomm. Therefore, QCOM stock could be a tech stock to watch in the stock market right now.
Notable Earnings To Look Out For Today
For earnings, investors remain spoilt for choices in the stock market today. Before the market opens today, we have CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), Discovery (NASDAQ: DISCA), Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE: NCLH), Camping World (NYSE: CWH), and BioCryst (NASDAQ: BCRX) to look forward to, among others.
On the flip side, we are looking at a tech-focused lineup of earnings after today’s closing bell. This includes but is not limited to firms such as Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ), Fastly (NYSE: FSLY),and Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY). At the same time, energy industry players like Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO), Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET), and APA Corporation (NASDAQ: APA) are also on tap. From Federal Reserve talks to quarterly earnings, the stock market today does not seem to be short on excitement, to say the least.
