Oil Prices, Bond Yields Weigh on Pre-Market Sentiment

Stock futures are lower this morning, as surging oil prices and Treasury yields keep pressure on Wall Street. Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are down over 360 points, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are firmly lower as well. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 4.867% earlier, its highest level since November 2023, while both West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude are trading above $100 per barrel. 

Investors are also digesting inflation data, with August's producer price index (PPI) rising 0.4% month over month, in line with estimates, while the 5.4% annual reading came in slightly above expectations. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims came in at 206,000, just above estimates of 205,000 and down slightly from last week.

Continue reading for more on today's market, including:

• See how stocks tend to perform after Fed decisions, per Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White. 
• 3 tech stocks that saw unusual options activity yesterday. 
• Plus, META upgraded, copper stocks sliding; and COO tanks after earnings. 

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Option Exchange saw roughly 2.7 million call contracts and 1.8 million put contracts traded on Wednesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.67, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.59. 
2. Following yesterday's surge after the Muse launch, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) is trading flat premarket, despite an upgrade from J.P. Morgan to "overweight" from "neutral." The firm also threw in a large price-target hike to $820 from $640, citing AI growth. Year over year, META is down 14.6% heading into today. 
3. Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) is down 8.7% before the bell, while Southern Copper Corp (NYSE:SCCO) drops 7.1% amid falling copper prices. Since the start of the year, both stocks are up roughly 50%.  
4. Cooper Companies Inc (NASDAQ:COO) is plummeting 18.4% in electronic trading, after the medical device company's posted a fiscal third-quarter revenue miss and a disappointing fourth-quarter forecast. BofA Global Research and Piper Sandler chimed in with downgrades, with COO set to open at a record low. 
5. See what's coming up on Wall Street tomorrow. 

European Central Bank Hikes Interest Rates

Asian markets closed mostly lower, as investors watched the continued rise in crude prices. Bucking the trend was Japan’s Nikkei, adding 0.2% as it enjoyed a lift from a handful of electronics stocks. Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea (BoK) said it is keeping an eye on internal and external policy conditions when deciding how it will move forward with rate hikes. The Korean Kospi fell 0.3%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.3%, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.4%.

European traders are fixed on the interest rate decision from the European Central Bank (ECB) today, which saw a 25-basis point hike to 2.5%, as expected. Also in focus, Germany’s consumer price index (CPI) for August showed a 2.9% year-over-year increase, up from July’s 2.8% rise. At last check, Germany’s DAX is flat, London’s FTSE 100 is down 0.3%, and France’s CAC 40 is up 0.2%.