Can GameStop Cause A Correction?

What’s in Today’s Report:

  • Can GameStop Cause a Correction?
  • Why Yesterdays FOMC Meeting Was More Important Than It Seemed
  • Oil Analysis and EIA Update

Futures are marginally lower as markets digest Wednesday’s selloff following a quiet night of news.

Foreign markets traded lower as they reacted to Wednesday’s U.S. sell off, but that was driven by sentiment, not any actual bad news. To the contrary, earnings after the close yesterday were solid, including AAPL and FB.

Today there are important events outside of GameStop and it’s heavily shorted peers, but how those stocks trade will decide whether this pullback gets worse or takes a pause.  Broadly, the market is moving inverse to GME and similar stocks, so if they rally today, expect more market declines, and if they decline, look for stocks to bounce back.

Looking at actual fundamentals, the key report today is Jobless Claims (E: 875K) and markets will want to see that number continue to decline from the recent highs.  We also get Advanced Q4 GDP (4.2%), but while that will get media attention, it’s a dated number and won’t move markets.  New Homes Sales (869K) will also be released later this morning, but shouldn’t move markets.

On the earnings front, the biggest reports for the week have already been released, but there are still notable reports today including: AAL (-$3.92), JBLUE (-$1.72), LUV (-$1.69), MA ($1.51), SHW ($4.85), CMCSA ($0.49), V ($1.27), X (-$0.67).