AI Party, Earnings

Good morning contrarians! Welcome to the Daily Contrarian, our morning look at events likely to move markets. It is Thursday, Jan. 23. Today’s Stocks On The Contrarian Radar©️ segment featuring AI chip stocks starts at the bottom of this page.

State of Play

Stocks advanced again yesterday, led by tech again. The S&P 500 briefly crossed into record territory but finished just marginally higher. As we eye our board of indicators for signs of direction at 0650, things appear tilted to risk off:

• Stock index futures are moving a bit lower, with tech leading the drop. The Nasdaq is down 0.5%. S&P 500 futures are effectively unchanged;

• Cryptos are also dropping. Bitcoin is down 3% to move below $102,000;

• Commodities aren’t doing much. WTI crude oil is up 0.5% to trade close to $76/barrel. Copper is down 0.5%;

• Bonds are seeing a bit of selling. The 10-year yield is up 3 basis points to 4.63% (yields move inversely to prices).

Today’s Known Events

Earnings are once again the story. Just reporting were:

• GE Aerospace (GE 0.00%↑), which beat on top- and bottom-line estimates and is rallying in the pre-market, up 6% at the time of this writing;

• Spicemaker McCormick & Co. (MKC 0.00%↑) also beat top- and bottom-line estimates but perhaps guidance left something to be desired as the stock is down in the pre-market by some 2%.

Also due before the open:

• American Airlines (AAL 0.00%↑), another good gauge of airline travel and hence consumer demand in the US, beat estimates but is dropping in the pre-market;

• Copper miner Freeport McMoran (FCX 0.00%↑).

After the close at 1600 the major name to report is Texas Instruments (TXN 0.00%↑).

In terms of economic data, it’s Thursday so we’ll get initial jobless claims at 0830. Economists who were surveyed expect 221,000 new claims, up a bit from the 212,000 recorded last week and ahead of the four-week average of about 213,000.

Finally, Pres. Trump is due to deliver the keynote (virtually) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, at 1100 ET.

(It’s Trump’s AI World. We’re just living in it. By author via Flux Dev AI)