Early Look

Friday, January 3, 2025

U.S. futures are edging higher after stocks got off to a rocky start to 2025 on Thursday as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite declined for a fifth straight day. For both, it was the longest losing streak since April, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a fourth straight day, its longest losing streak since Dec. 18, when it capped off a 10-day stretch of losses (which was the longest streak in over 40 years). Yesterday’s trading session was volatile, that included a bounce in Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar pushing to 2-year highs (both down slightly today). In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index declined -386 points to 39,894, the Shanghai Index fell -51 points to 3,211, and the Hang Seng Index rose 136 points to 19,760. In Europe, the German DAX is down -72 points to 19,951, while the FTSE 100is down -15 points to 8,244. In stock news, United States Steel Corp. (X) shares fell more than -9% after reports that President Joe Biden has decided to block Nippon Steel Corp.’s purchase of the company. Oil futures eased from the highest level in almost three-months as wider markets also wavered on concerns over a weaker Chinese economy. Economic data is light today, and earnings don’t pick up steam for 2-weeks though investors look to next week’s Consumer Electronics Trade Show (CES) where auto and tech giants are expected to show off their latest innovations in Las Vegas next week.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -151.95 points, or 0.36%, to 42,392.27.
• The Nasdaq Composite dropped -30.00 points, or 0.16%, to 19,280.79.
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 1.60 points, or 0.07% to 2,231.76.

• 1:00 PM EST                Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data

• Unemployed people in Germany increased by 10,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.87 million. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected that figure to rise by 15,000.

• PulteGroup (PHM) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Wedbush with a $135 price target saying that the recent decline in share price appears to be overdone.
• Stellantis NV (STLA) and Volkswagen (VWAGY) shares fell as some EV models that had previously received US tax credits for electric vehicles were excluded under tougher rules.
• Tesla (TSLA) said on Friday its China sales rose 8.8% to a record high of more than 657,000 cars in 2024; Tesla’s sales in the world’s largest auto market also increased 12.8% in December from a month earlier to a record high of 83,000 units, according to Tesla China.

• U.S. Steel (X) shares dropped after President Biden decides to officially block Japan’s Nippon Steel’s proposed $14.9B purchase of the company according to a person familiar with the decision, reported the Washington Post. Nippon Steel offered concessions earlier this week, proposing giving the U.S. govt veto power over any potential cuts to X’s production capacity, in effort to secure Biden’s approval.

• Block (SQ) upgraded to outperform from market perform at Raymond James amid confidence in the company’s seller gross payments volume (GPV).
• MRC Global (MRC) announces $125 Million share repurchase program.
• Resources Connection (RGP) Q2 revenue $145.618M vs. est. $137M; Q2 gross margin 38.5% and adjusted EBITDA margin 6.6% while Q2 adj Ebitda was $9.7M.
• UDR inc. (UDR) announces executive management promotions and leadership transition plans.
• The US banking system’s reserves, a key factor in the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep shrinking its balance sheet, tumbled below $3 trillion to the lowest since October 2020. Bank reserves fell by about $326 billion in the week through Jan. 1 to $2.89 trillion, according to Fed data.

• GSK Plc (GSK) announced that the China National Medical Products Administration has approved Nucala, a monoclonal antibody that targets interleukin-5, as an add-on therapy with intranasal corticosteroids for the treatment of adult patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.