From Nasdaq:

Asia-Pacific equity markets had a mixed day with South Korea’s KOSPI declining 0.26%, but Taiwan’s TAIEX and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also falling 0.21%. India’s SENSEX ended flat while China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.20% and Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.16% higher. U.S. equity futures pointed to a down market open this morning after a pop in technology stocks yesterday.

China exported 5.26 million vehicles last year, surpassing exports of made-in-Japan vehicles by about a million. Euro Area’s jobless rate hit an 6.4% in November, matching a historic low. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index increased 1.3 points in December to 91.9, marking the 24th consecutive month below the 50-year average of 98.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman discussed rate cuts; energy stocks traded lower after reports regarding Exxon Mobil and the Supreme Court. Leadership came from Technology, Consumer Discretionary, and Communication Services as the so-called Magnificent Seven lifted these sectors above all others. Broad indexes all posted gains.

Pre-market breadth is lighter today with 251 names in the S&P 500 trading, 67 gainers and 184 decliners. Shares of Juniper Networks are looking to open over 20% higher while Hewlett Packard Enterprise are on track to open around 10% lower. Samsung Electronics reported a 35% drop in Q4 operating profit. Extreme Networks now expects its second quarter revenues to be between $294-$297 million.

Microchip revised its quarterly revenue forecast to $1.76 billion, below its prior guidance. BioNTech now sees 2024 revenue coming in around €3 billion compared to the €3.75 billion consensus forecast. In a filing with the SEC, Unity Software disclosed it would cut about 1,800 employee roles, or about 25% of its current workforce as part of a restructuring. The Container Store Group now expects consolidated net sales for its third quarter to be about $214 million, down from its prior guidance range of $220-$225 million. Jefferies reported November quarter EPS of $0.30 per share, on revenue of $1.2 billion.

ByteDance, the company behind social media platform TikTok, is engaged in discussions to sell its game titles to potential buyers including Tencent. Shares of Juniper Networks soared in after hours trading last night following a Wall Street Journal report that Hewlett Packard Enterprise had approached the company about a potential acquisition.



Read more: Daily Markets: More Fed Pushback on Rate Cuts