Stocks that are expected to trade actively in U.S. markets on Friday include: The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN), Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN), and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:LGF).
Market Level
U.S.: DJIA 15593.98 (-0.97%), S&P 500 1,747.15 (-1.32%), NASDAQ 3,857.33 (-1.90%).
Europe: FTSE 6,673.53 (-0.35%), DAX 9,031.72 (-0.55%), CAC 40 4,248.96 (-0.75%).
Asia Pacific: NIKKEI 14086.80 (-1.00%), SHANGHAI 2,106.13 (-1.09%), HSI 22744.39(-0.60%), ASX 200 5,400.67 (-0.39%), KOSPI 1984.87 (-0.96%).
Commodities: Oil 94.48 (0.30%), NAT GAS 3.544 (0.71%), Gold 1,310.60 (0.16%), Silver 21.705 (0.22%), Wheat 653.75 (0.11%), Corn 421.00 (0.12%).
Currency: EUR/USD 1.3415 (-0.02%), GBP/USD 1.6074 (-0.14%), USD/JPY 98.18 (0.10%).
10 year Treasury bond: 2.618 (0.013).
Market & Economic Update
U.S. market may open higher: U.S. stock index futures were up on Friday signaling a higher open on Wall Street, as investors await the October data for U.S. non-farm payrolls. Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1% while the S&P 500 witnessed its worst performance in the last ten weeks.
European market declined: European shares dropped on Friday, owing to concerns that a reviving U.S. economy may scale back its stimulus. Weak results from corporate, including Richemont also contributed to the fall. Moreover, Standard & Poor’s decision to cut the credit rating of France’s sovereign from AA+ to AA also fueled the sentiments bringing the French index CAC 40 down. At 8:32 GMT, FTSEurofirst 300 was down 0.6% to 1288.97.
Asian markets lower: The Japanese Nikkei, on Friday, fell 1.0% to 14,086.80 after falling to 14,026.17 earlier, which is its lowest level since October 9, as investors avoided taking risks awaiting the U.S. jobs report release. Shares on the Hong Kong exchange declined to a two week low on Friday, its lowest level since 25th October, down 0.6% a day and 2.2% a week at 22,744.4 points. A majority of the decline was due to uncertainty about the result of the Communist Party policy meeting.
Stocks to Watch
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)
Twitter will remain the main attraction after its impressive opening yesterday. Twitter shares opened at $45.10, far above its IPO price of $26, and subsequently increased more than 70% to finish at $44.90. A report by Factset says that around 117.5 million shares of Twitter were traded on the first day. In extended trading, the shares were down 1.3%.
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)
After the closing session on Thursday, Walt Disney announced a fourth quarter profit of $1.39 billion, or 77 cents a share, against $1.24 billion, or 68 cents a share, a year earlier. Additionally, revenues of the company also jumped to $11.57 billion from $10.78 billion. In after hours of trading, the shares of Wall Disney declined by over 1%.
Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN)
For the third quarter, Groupon reported adjusted earnings of 2 cents beating the analyst estimation of a penny a share. Revenue of the company was $595.1 million, not meeting the consensus estimate of $615.7 million. Shares fell over 5% in after-hours trading.
Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN)
For the third quarter, Priceline.com, the online travel services website, reported profits of $833 million, or $15.72 a share, compared to the year before of $597 million, or $11.66 a share. The company’s shares rose more than 3% in after-hours trading.
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:LGF)
According to a report by Factset, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, on Friday, is projected to report a loss of 3 cents a share for the fiscal second quarter.
