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Good morning friends!
Futures are higher as traders digest strong earnings from Nike (NKE) which are boosting the Dow.
Let’s get right to it!
Nike (NKE) shares are surging 11.4% ahead of the open after beating fiscal Q2 expectations and raising its outlook.
Here’s how the company’s results compared to analysts’ expectations:
Revenue jumped 17% year over year and the CFO said they now expect full-year revenue growth in mid-single digits vs the previous forecast for growth in the low-to mid-single digits.
But the company still struggled with inventory in the quarter.
Inventories were up 43% year over year to $9.3 billion, down from $9.7 billion in fiscal Q1.
The CEO said he believes the company is past its inventory peak.
FedEx (FDX) shares are up 5.8% in premarket trade after reporting mixed fiscal Q2 results.
Here’s how the shipping giant’s results compared to analysts’ expectations:
Although profits came in stronger than expected, those results were down from EPS of $4.38 on $23.5 billion in sales a year ago.
FedEx’s earnings guidance also came in weak with the company expecting full year adjusted EPS of $13 to $14 vs Wall Street’s expectation of $14.
The company said it is still facing headwinds from a weakening global economy but said it expects volume weakness to subside in the second half of its fiscal year.
FedEx is cutting costs to offset that weakness with management planning to reduce expenses by about $3.7 billion this fiscal year.
Refinance demand jumped last week as mortgage rates hit the lowest level since September.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported refinance applications jumped 6% weekly but were still down 85% year over year.
Purchase applications fell 0.1% weekly and 36% annually, as this is historically the slowest time of the year for home purchases.
The average 30-year fixed contract rate decreased to 6.34% from 6.42% the previous week.
Although that’s the lowest since September, rates are still more than double what they were at this time in 2021.
The National Association of Realtors reports existing home sales for November at 10:00 a.m. ET.
That report is expected to show the pace of sales slowed last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million units from 4.43 million in October.
The housing market has seen a sharp slowdown in activity due to higher mortgage rates piling on top of the typical seasonal slowdown in sales.
The Conference Board releases its December consumer confidence index at 10:00 a.m. ET.
That survey is expected to have improved to a reading of 101.2 from 100.2 in November.
Consumer confidence hit the lowest level since July last month as inflation continues to pressure shoppers.