Good morning contrarians! Welcome to the Daily Contrarian, our morning look at events likely to move markets. It is Wednesday, Jan. 22. The Stocks On The Contrarian Radar©️ segment, feat WEN 0.00%↑, begins at (7:24) of today’s podcast and can be read at the bottom of this page.
State of Play
Stocks advanced yesterday, partly on news of President Trump’s Stargate venture to invest in AI infrastructure. After the close, earnings from Netflix (NFLX 0.00%↑) and United Airlines (UAL 0.00%↑) delivered more positive news.
As we eye our board of indicators for signs of direction at 0645 ET, some risk-on is emerging as a result:
Stock index futures are advancing led by tech. The Nasdaq is up 0.8% with the S&P 500 pointing to gains of 0.5% at the open;
Cryptos are gaining ground as well. Bitcoin is up 1% to trade close to $105,000;
Commodities aren’t doing much. WTI crude oil is gaining a tiny bit, up 0.5% to trade north of $76/barrel again. Copper is down 0.3%;
Bonds are unchanged. The 10-year yield is 4.58%.
Today’s Known Events
Earnings are very much the focus again. One crucial report is in already:
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 0.00%↑) just beat on top- and bottom-line estimates and appears to have raised guidance. The stock is moving higher in the pre-market;
Procter & Gamble (PG 0.00%↑) and Halliburton (HAL 0.00%↑) are imminent;
After the close at 1600 we’ll hear from: Kinder Morgan (KMI 0.00%↑), Alcoa (AA 0.00%↑), and Discover Financial Services (DFS 0.00%↑), among others.
The only economic data release worth mentioning is Japan’s balance of trade, due at 1850 ET tonight. A trade deficit of $55 billion yen, about half of last month’s, is expected by a survey of economists. Japan’s trade balance is a pretty good gauge of consumer health worldwide given the number of automobiles and electronics the country exports.
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Contrarian Investor Premium to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
