What to watch today: Wall Street looks higher after breaking multiday win streaks
BY THE NUMBERS
U.S. stock futures bounced Tuesday. The Dow began the week by breaking a five-session winning streak. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended four-session winning streaks. The catalyst: Fed Chairman Jerome Powell vowed to take "necessary steps" to fight what he called "too high" inflation. The 10-year Treasury yield on Tuesday continued to climb, hitting nearly 2.36%, its highest level since late May 2019. (CNBC)
Dow stock Nike (NKE) rose roughly 5% in Tuesday's premarket, the morning after reporting fiscal third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat estimates. Nike cited robust demand in North America but opted not to provide forward guidance against a backdrop of uncertainties around inflation, Russia's Ukraine war and clogged supply chains. (CNBC)
Alibaba (BABA) shares jumped 8% in U.S. premarket trading Tuesday after the Chinese e-commerce giant said it would increase the size of its share buyback program by 66% to $25 billion. Alibaba has repurchased about 56.2 million American depositary receipts, worth about $9.2 billion, under the previously announced buyback program. (CNBC)
IN THE NEWS TODAY
Ukrainian forces said early Tuesday they retook a strategically important suburb of Kyiv. However, Russia continued to squeeze other areas near the capital and its attack on the embattled southern port of Mariupol raged on unabated. (AP)
* Zelenskyy calls for more pressure on Moscow; Ukraine says 15,000 Russian troops killed (CNBC)
U.S. President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin's "back is against the wall" and could resort to using chemical weapons. The White House also warned of potential cyberattacks, urging American companies to "immediately" harden their defenses. (AP & Reuters)
Boeing (BA) CEO Dave Calhoun told employees the aircraft maker offered the full support of its technical experts in the investigation of the crash of a China Eastern Airlines 737-800 with 132 people on board. The jet crashed in mountains in southern China early Monday. Boeing, a Dow stock, advanced modestly in premarket trading, one day after dropping 3.6%. (Reuters)
* China crash 'unprecedented' given Boeing 737′s stellar safety record, says aviation analyst (CNBC)
Dow stock Disney (DIS), down more than 6% in a month, was steady in the premarket ahead of a week of planned employee walkouts, starting Tuesday, in protest of CEO Bob Chapek's delayed denunciation of Florida's so-called Don't Say Gay bill. Chapek said Monday that the company made a mistake by previously remaining silent on the legislation in the state home to Disney World. (Reuters)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday is set to open the electric auto maker's first manufacturing facility in Europe, cutting the ribbon at the Berlin factory. Tesla sees the plant producing up to 500,000 vehicles annually. Select clients on Tuesday will get Model Ys made in Berlin. Musk said new orders from the plant could be delivered as soon as next month. (CNBC & Reuters)
Pfizer (PFE) said Tuesday it will supply up to four million courses of its oral Covid treatment to dozens of poorer nations under an agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund. Pfizer expects to start supplying the antiviral pills, Paxlovid, to UNICEF beginning next month and will continue to do so through the end of the year. (CNBC)
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson will face senators' questions for the first time Tuesday as Democrats push to quickly confirm the only Black female justice in the court's 233-year history. Jackson, a federal appeals court judge, silently listened to more than four hours of senators' opening statements on Monday. (AP)
Porn star Stormy Daniels is on the hook to pay Donald Trump nearly $300,000 in attorneys' fees after a federal appeals court rejected her bid to overturn a lower court decision in her failed defamation lawsuit against the former president. Trump bragged about Friday's ruling in a statement issued Monday night. (CNBC)
STOCKS TO WATCH
Okta (OKTA) is investigating reports of a digital breach, with the authentication services provider saying it would provide more information when it becomes available. Okta shares fell 6% in premarket trading.
Altria (MO) rose 1% in the premarket after Goldman upgraded Altria to buy from neutral. Goldman pointed to the tobacco company's strong cash flow, high profit margins and attractive dividend.
Tencent Music (TME) rallied 4.5% in premarket trading after the entertainment services company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and said it would pursue a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Upstart Holdings (UPST) was downgraded to underperform from neutral at Wedbush, which cited the cloud lending platform's dependence on third-party funding as well as macroeconomic risks. Upstart fell 3.5% in the premarket.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and its workers agreed to binding arbitration to resolve their labor dispute, allowing operations to resume after a weekend lockout.
Paramount (PGRE) rose nearly 2% in the premarket after the office-centered REIT rejected a takeover offer from asset management firm Monarch Alternative Capital as too low. Paramount said it remains open to any ideas that enhance shareholder value.