News of the day for Nov. 7, 2024

Stock futures were marginally higher early Thursday following a strong day for markets after the Donald Trump election win.

Trump Media, Tesla and bitcoin gave back some gains;  Fed watchers are anticipating a quarter-point interest rate cut today, with comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell to follow; Lyft (LYFT) shares surged higher after the ride-hailing app reported strong earnings and lifted its outlook; Qualcomm (QCOM) shares moved higher after posting strong revenue gains while Arm Holdings (ARM) declined on a lower-than-expected sales forecast; Zillow (Z) shares jump edon improved revenue and narrower losses for the real-estate site.

Here's what investors need to know today.

1. Stock Futures Steady, DJT, Tesla Down Following Post-Election Surge

After surging on the electoral victory of Republican Donald Trump on Wednesday, stock futures built on those gains in early trading on Thursday. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were each up around 0.2% in futures trading, coming after each made jumps of 2.5% or more in the prior session.

Futures for the smaller-company focused Russell 2000, which moved higher by 5.8% in trading Wednesday, moved higher in early trading.  Shares of Trump Media (DJT) were plunging by nearly 14%, while Tesla (TSLA) shares ticked lower. Treasury yields remained little changed after surging on the election results, while bitcoin (BTCUSD) traded lower by about 1% to trade around $74,800.

2. Fed Watchers Await Decision on Rates, Powell Comments

Investors will be eyeing today’s interest rate decision from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which is expected to include lower interest rates by a quarter-percentage point at a 2 p.m. announcement. The move would follow a more aggressive rate cut in September and bring the federal funds rate down to a level of  4.5% to 4.75%. With inflation cooling and the job market showing signs of weakness, officials have projected that the Federal Reserve could enact a series of rate cuts over the coming year. A news conference from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m. is likely to provide more insight into the central bank’s plans.

3. Lyft Shares Soar on Improved Outlook, Surging Revenue

Shares of ride hailing app Lyft (LYFT) jumped more than 20% in premarket trading after it reported better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its outlook. The company posted a third-quarter revenue increase of 32% year-over-year to $1.5 billion, ahead of the analyst consensus from Visible Alpha. Lyft reported a net loss of $12.4 million, or 3 cents per share, narrower than the loss of $17.08 million and 5 cents per share that analysts were expecting. With active riders hitting an all-time high of 24.4 million, Lyft projected fourth-quarter gross bookings of $4.28 billion to $4.35 billion, above the analyst consensus of $4.24 billion.