U.S. stock-index futures traded mixed on Thursday as the release of the better-than-expected jobless claims report was not enough to outweigh lingering uncertainty over a second coronavirus stimulus bill.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Deere (DE) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan; target raised to $160

FXStreet reports that the S&P 500 Index has quickly and abruptly negated Tuesday’s bearish “reversal day”, turning the spotlight on the 3394 record high. Whilst momentum is starting to slow, economists at Credit Suisse see scope for a move to test the 3432/36 mark, which is expected to cap for a consolidation phase.

“Whilst we continue to see signs upward momentum is slowing and the market is now above what we see as its ‘typical’ extreme (10% above its 200- day average, currently at 3368) we look for a challenge on the 3394 record high, with scope for an overshoot to potential trend resistance, today seen at 3412, which we would look to cap at first.” 

“Bigger picture, our ‘ideal’ roadmap would be for a test of Fibonacci projection resistance at 3432/36, but with this then capping for a consolidation/corrective phase.” 

“Support at 3371 needs to hold to keep the immediate risk higher. Below can see a retreat back to the beginning of the price gap from yesterday morning at 3355. Overall though key near-term support is seen at the recent low and 13-day average at 3326/12, and only a close below here would suggest a correction lower is finally underway.”

FXStreet notes that the Nikkei surged higher on Thursday, ending the session up 1.78% and above the 23185 range high. This completes the bull ‘triangle’ continuation pattern, which signals a move to 24090/115 initially, economists at Credit Suisse inform.

“We now look for a move towards medium-term resistance, seen starting at 23970/24000, the potential downtrend from the 2018 high and stretching up to 24090/115, which is the 2019/20 highs. It’s worth highlighting though that the ‘measured triangle objective’ points even to an eventual breakout above here to test the 2018 high at 24450.”

“Reinforcing the breakout is the fact that daily MACD has now crossed higher for first time since June.”

“We now ideally look for the market to hold above 23185/10 to keep the risks directly higher, however only a move below 22670 would negate the ‘triangle’ to leave the market trapped within its range again, which is not our base case.”

Lyft (LYFT) reported Q2 FY 2020 loss of $0.86 per share (versus -$0.68 per share in Q2 FY 2019), better than analysts’ consensus estimate of -$0.97 per share.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $0.339 bln (-60.9% y/y), missing analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.349 bln.

LYFT fell to $30.49 (-0.10%) in pre-market trading.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) reported Q4 FY 2020 earnings of $0.80 per share (versus $0.83 per share in Q4 FY 2019), beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.74 per share.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $12.154 bln (-9.5% y/y), roughly in line with analysts’ consensus estimate of $12.087 bln.

The company also issued downside guidance for Q1 FY 2021, projecting EPS of $0.69-0.71 versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.76 and revenues declining 9-11% y/y to ~$11.71-11.98 bln versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $12.29 bln.

CSCO fell to $45.09 (-6.26%) in pre-market trading.