Stock Market Futures Inch Higher After Snapping Two-Day Winning Streak
U.S. stock futures are edging up in early morning trading today. This would continue the ongoing uncertainty across the stock market. Between talks of inflation, growing economic headwinds, and the possibility of a recession, this is not that surprising. Not to mention, retailers such as Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE: SMG) and Target (NYSE: TGT) continue to slash their financial outlooks. Both of these firms, as of this week, are doing so because of excessive inventory issues.
Overall, as inflation and interest rate expectations remain persistent concerns for investors, economic data releases would be among the market movers to consider. In particular, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release its Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading for May on Friday. By current consensus economist forecasts, we could see the CPI ease marginally month-over-month.
Meanwhile, mentions of some potential M&A action between Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) are also making the rounds in the stock market this week. Should the latter be looking to acquire Roku, it would mark a massive event for streaming stocks in general. While taking all this information in, investors also have plenty of stock market news to keep up with today. As of 6:51 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading higher by 0.54%, 0.61%, and 0.69% respectively.
Apple Advances Fintech Strategy With In-House Lending Solutions
Making headlines yet again today would be consumer tech giant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Notably, the company’s WWDC continues to bring massive announcements, mostly across its software offerings. Aside from the slew of key updates to its iOS and MacBook divisions, Apple is also making leaps on the fintech front. With regards to its new buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) solution, Apple Pay Later (APL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple will check user credit and extend short-term loans to users of APL. For one thing, this announcement would be a sizable shake up in the industry.
All in all, Apple’s latest move would put it in direct competition with fintech giants such as Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) and PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL). As it stands, Apple is planning to release these new fintech features alongside its latest iOS 16 iPhone software. This would serve to significantly expand Apple Pay’s current list of services. In particular, APL will allow Apple Pay users to pay for purchases across four equal payments over six weeks. Moreover, the company is currently working with Mastercard (NYSE: MA) to enable its BNPL service. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) will remain the issuer for the company’s Apple Card. As such, investors would likely continue to tune in to AAPL stock now.
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Palantir Brings On NHS Officials In Efforts To Secure $450 Million U.K. Health Management Contract
In other news, Palantir (NYSE: PLTR) appears to be hard at work expanding its operations. According to the Financial Times, the big data analytics firm is bringing on senior National Health Service (NHS) officials to its team. Accordingly, this could be part of the company’s plans to secure a $450 million contract to manage the U.K.’s health care data. For a sense of scale, this would involve the medical data of millions of patients in the U.K. If anything, Palantir is already the NHS’s go-to data analytics solutions provider, starting from the earlier days of the pandemic.
Through its latest employment moves, Palantir has been and will likely continue to bid for the five-year $450 million health care contract. This will revolve around the management of the Federated Data Platform (FDP). In brief, the FDP is a cutting-edge tool that connects and integrates patient data across the national health care system. Thanks to this feature, health care officials ranging from clinicians to bureaucrats can make real-time decisions. Should things go as planned, Palantir will likely receive an update on this in November later this year. With all this in mind, PLTR stock could be in focus at the opening bell later today.
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DocuSign Earnings Preview: What To Know Beyond The Microsoft Deal Expansion
On the earnings front today, DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU) could be worth checking out as well. In general, this could be the case seeing as it is set to report its latest quarterly earnings after the closing bell. Getting into the details, consensus figures on Wall Street are earnings of $0.46 per share on revenue of $581.85 million. Should this be the case, it would add up to year-over-year gains of 4.5% and 24% respectively. On the whole, investors will likely be keen to see how this pandemic-era tech darling performed for the quarter. After all, the likes of Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) did post a sizable earnings beat in its latest quarterly update last month.
Also worth mentioning, DOCU stock appears to be on a roll at the moment. Over the past month, the company’s shares are up by over 25%. Among the latest catalysts for this growth would be the company’s latest work with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). Just yesterday, the duo revealed that they would be expanding their global strategic partnership. As a result of the agreement, users of Microsoft’s enterprise solutions now have access to more of DocuSign’s offerings. Mainly, this includes new integrations with the DocuSign Agreement Cloud. After considering all of this, I could see DOCU stock gaining attention in the stock market now.
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Stock Market Earnings To Watch Today
Aside from DocuSign, here are the other notable companies reporting earnings today. In the pre-market hours, FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL), Bilibili (NASDAQ: BILI), and Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG) will be on tap. Additionally, Nio (NYSE: NIO), a leading electric vehicle (EV) firm will also be reporting its latest figures during that time. As lockdowns in China continue to ease, names such as Nio could be worth noting in the market now. Alternatively, after the closing bell, there are several other firms to look out for as well. Namely, Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN), Stitch Fix (NASDAQ: SFIX), and Rent The Runway (NASDAQ: RENT) are among said firms. Between ever-present economic concerns, earnings, and companies making moves, investors have plenty to consider in the stock market today.
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