Stocks are hovering just inside negative territory this morning as investors have seemed content to press pause on the rally. Analysts have been warning for days about the overbought conditions and it looks like the advice has been taken. Dow futures are currently down 27 points to 12,974. Nasdaq 100 futures are off fractionally to 2,731. The S&P 500 futures are rounding out the pre-market losses, down 1.75 points to 1,387.25.
The major economic data point today will be new home sales data set for release at 10am EST. Expectations are for a rise to 330k, up from 321k in January. The housing data all week has been a mixed bag at best. The only piece of good news was that permits rose while all the other points were misses.
Overseas the markets have mostly been negative. European markets are finishing the week in the red as concerns mount over a new recession EU wide. In China, the acceleration the contracting PMI has reignited fears of a hard landing.
Speaking in Hong Kong, the St. Louis Fed Chairman said that if the economy keeps improving the need for more easing will not be there. That is sure to rattle investors who have been on a constant drip of Fed stimulus since the 2008 crisis.
In commodities oil seems to like its position above $100 per barrel. Nymex crude futures are up over 30 cents to $105.66. Gold prices are trying to continue their recovery after a dismal month. Gold futures are up nearly $7 to $1,649.30 per ounce.
Stocks to Watch today include Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU), Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT), GNC Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNC), Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), VelocityShares Daily 2x Vix (NYSEARCA:TVIX), Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNGA) and Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI).
Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU) is up 9.50% in pre market trading at $4.38. GLUU has traded 32 thousand shares so far this morning and trades 1.5 million shares a day on average. Needham initiated coverage on Glu Mobile this morning and gave it a strong buy trading. The company has a market cap of 256.16 million.
Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) is up 2.23% in pre market trading at $27.02. Textron’s Cessna and AVIC are signing two strategic agreements to jointly develop general and business aviation in China. TXT trades 4.3 million shares a day on average. The company has a market cap of 7.39 billion.
GNC Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:GNC) is up 1.77% today at $35.15. GNC Holdings announced today it will present at Telsey Advisory Group Conference. GNC trades 1.3 million shares a day on average. The company has a market cap of 3.69 billion.
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is down 3.90% today at $8.37. Micron shares are sliding after the company posted a larger second quarter loss than expected. Micron posted a net loss of $0.23 per share, while analysts were expecting a loss of $0.19 per share. The company has a market cap of 8.60 billion.
VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX (NYSEARCA:TVIX) is down nearly 20% in pre market trading at $8.22. TVIX plummeted yesterday more than 30% even though the VIX went up against the down market. This left many investors scratching their head wondering what was going on. Here’s a good video from CNBC that explains everything that has been happening lately with TVIX.
Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is down 2.22% in pre market trading at $13.45. ZNGA has traded nearly 90 thousand shares so far today and trades 10.7 million shares a day on average. Zynga shares are sliding this morning on news that Zynga shareholders will sell stock totaling $591 million. The CEO will sell about about 16.5 million shares worth $227 million. The company has a market cap of 10 billion.
Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) is up 0.52% in pre market trading at $52.10. DRI has traded 22 thousand shares this morning and trades 1.7 million shares a day on average. Darden Restaurants’ Olive Garden helped lift its profits. Third quarter EPS came in at $1.25, beating Wall Street’s view of $1.24. The company has a market cap of 6.66 billion.
About Kyle Pinder
