Stock Futures Slide Despite Government Reopening

Stock futures are lower this morning, despite the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown coming to an end. President Donald Trump signed the funding bill late last night, with government services expected to reopen in the coming days. Walt Disney's (DIS) post-earnings tumble is weighing on Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures, looking to pull the blue-chip index away fromyesterday's record close, with the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) pointed lower as well. 

• Defense stock flashing historically bullish signal. 
• 2 gold stocks pushing back toward all-time highs. 
• Plus, Walt Disney's mixed results; why WBTN is lower; and BABA jumps on app revamp. 

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange saw over 2.1 million call contracts and more than 1.1 million put contracts exchanged on Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio came in at 0.56, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.58.
2. Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) is down 5.7% premarket after the company reported mixed fiscal fourth-quarter results, with a revenue miss overshadowing an earnings beat. The company also said it doesn't know how long its fight with YouTube TV will last. Should these losses hold, DIS will slip into negative territory for 2025. 
3. Webtoon Entertainment Inc (NASDAQ:WBTN) is down 25.2% before the bell, after the company posted lower-than-expected revenue for the third quarter and lowered its current-quarter revenue outlook. J.P. Morgan Securities and Deutsche Bank cut their price targets to to $13 and $19, respectively. Looking to drop to its lowest level since August, the shares could erase their 23.9% year-to-date gain. 
4. China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is up 3.6% in electronic trading, amid reports that the company is looking to make over its AI mobile app to be more like ChatGPT. BABA already sports an 87.7% year-to-date lead.
5. A handful of fed speeches are expected today.

Asian Markets on the Rise

Asian markets are buoyed by the shutdown officially ending in the U.S. Japan’s Nikkei added 0.4%, even as SoftBank continued to sell off in the wake of its Nvidia sale. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.5% on the strength of small caps. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively.

Over in Europe, some bourses have pivoted into the red, with energy stocks buzzing after the International Energy Agency hiked its oil supply forecast. At last look, London’s FTSE 100 is down 0.7%, the French CAC 40 is up 0.4%, and the German DAX is off by 0.5%.