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Briefing.com Summary:
*Netflix is a big loser following a big earnings miss that came with an asterisk.
*COF, ISRG, WGO, and APH are up sharply following their earnings reports.
*Tesla, part of a mixed mega-cap group, reports its results after the close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a record-setting turn yesterday, but it lacked company on a day that saw the other indices flutter through an otherwise lethargic session. There is a similar sense of lethargy in the equity futures trade this morning.
Currently, the S&P 500 futures are up six points and are trading 0.1% above fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are down 34 points and are trading 0.1% below fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up nine points and are trading fractionally above fair value.
What these moves imply is that it will be a relatively flattish open for the major indices, which are being constrained by a disappointing reaction to Netflix's (NFLX) earnings report and mixed action again among the mega-cap stocks.
Netflix is down 7.5% following an earnings miss that it attributed to an extraordinary Brazilian tax item. Absent that Brazilian tax expense, which was not in its forecast, Netflix said it would have exceeded guidance. That clarification and above-consensus Q4 guidance notwithstanding, shares of NFLX are still noticeably lower and look ready to open below their 50-day moving average (1214.86).
The hit NFLX is taking, despite the tax impact clarification, may be the bigger story for a market facing unrelenting valuation worries if there isn't a stronger buy-the-dip urge intraday.
Texas Instruments (TXN) is another laggard of note. It is down 7.7% after coming up shy of the Q3 FactSet consensus estimate and issuing below-consensus Q4 guidance. Toy maker Mattel (MAT) is also on the hit list, down 5.7% after missing consensus EPS and revenue estimates for the September quarter.
Conversely, Capital One Financial (COF), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), GE Vernova (GEV), Winnebago (WGO), Amphenol (APH), and Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) are among the luminaries enjoying positive responses to their latest earnings results that have helped offset weakness in other stocks.
Similar to yesterday, the mega-cap stocks are trading in a mixed fashion in pre-market action, which in turn has the equity futures market under wraps. Tesla (TSLA), which reports its results after today's close, is in that group and is little changed ahead of the open.
The government shutdown, meanwhile, hasn't changed at all. The impasse between Republicans and Democrats on a continuing resolution remains entrenched on day 22 of the shutdown, which makes it the second longest on record.
Elsewhere, Treasury yields are little changed; the U.S. Dollar Index is up 0.2% to 99.11; and gold futures are down 1.1% to $4,064.30/ozt following their worst loss yesterday in more than a decade.
