Stock Market Futures Rise Alongside Soaring Oil Prices
U.S. stock futures are gaining momentum as we enter the new trading week. This comes at a time when inflation remains the main focus of investors and companies alike. In the week ahead, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest reading on consumer pricing will be a major release to note. Namely, this will be in the form of its monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading on Friday. As it stands, consensus economist figures suggest a further year-over-year increase in the headline CPI index of 8.3% for May. Month-over-month, this would translate to an increase of 0.7%.
Speaking on this in further detail is Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst over at Bankrate. He states, “The rate of inflation moderated a bit in April and we’ll need to see this followed up by more slowing in May to underscore the notion that inflation has peaked.” McBride adds, “Even then, it will take many months of more moderate price readings for the rate of inflation to come down in a meaningful way.” This could further contribute to the overall pressure on markets as we enter another trading week.
In fact, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) co-President Ted Pick recently weighed in on how global markets are undergoing a “fundamental shift.” Between the first pandemic in a century, the first invasion in Europe in 75 years, and rising global inflation, this would be the case. In Pick’s words, “it signals a paradigm shift, the end of 15 years of financial repression and the next era to come.” While you consider all this, here’s how the major stock index futures are doing today. As of 5:14 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading higher by 0.84%, 1.11%, and 1.49% respectively.
Apple To Kick-Off WWDC 2022 Today: Things To Know
Among the major tech names to look out for in the stock market this week is Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Overall, this would be thanks to the company initiating its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). For those unfamiliar, WWDC 2022, as with its previous iterations, is where Apple showcases and teases its latest software. From the upcoming cutting-edge version of its iOS operating system to Apple’s latest services, this would be the case. As such, investors may be keeping an eye on AAPL stock this week as the company begins hosting WWDC 2022 today through Thursday.
Commenting on what Apple could have on deck this week is Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives. Currently, Ives has an Outperform rating and a $200 price target on AAPL stock. According to the analyst, key iOS 16 updates to look out for would be lock screen, messaging, and health features. Aside from that, Ives also highlights that a possible NFL-related update on Apple TV+’s end would draw some major attention. This would be a key development in the company’s sports streaming efforts. Before this, the company did strike a deal to live-stream two exclusive Major League Baseball (MLB) games per week. According to Ives, “Apple looks potentially in the winners circle for the NFL Sunday Ticket Package in what would be a landmark deal for Cupertino.” Should this be the case, the tech analyst sees Apple providing this key NFL package by 2023.
Regarding Apple’s other possible software updates, the iPadOS, Apple Watch, and MacBook Air laptops would be other areas to consider. Pair all this with AAPL stock being down by over 20% year-to-date and investors could be keen to jump on it today.
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Oil Prices Soar As Saudi Arabia Hikes Crude Price; Chevron CEO Comments On Long-Term Russian Oil Output
In other news, oil prices are quickly rising on Monday. For the most part, this upturn in energy costs would follow announcements of a price hike from Saudi Arabia for its crude sales. According to Saudi state oil producer, Aramco, the official selling price for its flagship Arab Light crude to Asia will be going up to a $6.50 premium in July. This is a notable jump from its previous selling price of $4.40 in June. As a result of all this, Brent crude futures hit an intraday high of $121.95 earlier today. At the same time, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures peaked at $120.99 per barrel, a three-month high. This comes after a 1.7% gain on Friday last week.
Meanwhile, Chevron (NYSE: CVX) CEO Mike Wirth also recently spoke on the current state of Russia’s oil production. Wirth argues that Russia will continue to experience long-term output declines as Western companies exit the country. He justifies this by saying, “If you look at Iran and Venezuela, two other examples of large producers that have come under sanctions and have been pretty well cut off from the same kinds of investments and technology, their productive capacity degrades over time.” Because of all this, investors may be turning their attention towards oil stock and the broader oil industry today.
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Coupa Software To Report Earnings After Today’s Closing Bell: What To Expect
On the earnings front today, Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP) will be releasing its latest quarterly update. After the closing bell today, investors could be tuning in to the global tech platform operator. In brief, the company primarily operates via its cloud-based Business Spend Management (BSM) platform. Through the BSM platform, Coupa unifies processes across its client’s supply chain, procurement, and finance divisions. Amidst the current supply chain pressures globally, Coupa’s services would be in demand now.
Getting into the numbers, current consensus figures on Wall Street for Coupa are earnings of $0.05 per share on revenue of $190.69 million. Not to mention, the company was also named a 2022 Gartner (NYSE: IT) Magic Quadrant Challenger in the Supply Chain Planning Solutions division last month. According to executive VP Raja Hammoud, “Supply chain resilience is mission-critical for every business. We think this recognition from Gartner underscores our effort in helping customers through this complex and dynamic environment.” With all this in mind, investors may be considering COUP stock in the stock market now.
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Nio Teams Up With AMD To Bolster EV Chip Supply
Making a splash in the electric vehicle (EV) world now is Nio (NYSE: NIO). As of earlier today, the Chinese EV firm is teaming up with Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) to strengthen its current supply of EV chips. Through the current partnership, Nio will be employing AMD’s EPYC lineup of processors. In detail, the chips will serve as key components of the company’s high-performance computing (HPC) platform.
Ideally, it will do so by helping accelerate Nio’s artificial intelligence (AI) deep learning training. This, in turn, according to AMD, will help Nio save costs while shortening product development cycles. In the larger scheme of things, this deal would come at a strategic timing for Nio. After all, the industry at-large continues to grapple with chip shortages. As Nio continues to adapt to the current business environment, NIO stock would be in focus in the stock market now.
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