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Dow Jones Futures: FDA Panel Backs Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine; Disney, Nio Key Stocks Moving; Apple, AMD In Buy Range

Dow Jones futures tilted lower late Thursday, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures, following a bullish day for growth stocks. An FDA panel backed the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, with Lululemon earnings, a Disney streaming event and share offerings from Nio stock and Twilio (TWLO) also making news.




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The stock market rally technically closed mixed Thursday but growth names staged a solid rebound. Twilio stock broke out Thursday. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) staged a bullish rebound from just above a buy point. Apple (AAPL) rose, but is stuck in the “friend zone” between two early entries.

TWLO stock gave up some ground overnight as the software maker announced a share offering. Nio (NIO) retreated on its own proposed offering, following stock sales from Tesla and Chinese EV rivals Xpeng Motors (XPEV) and Li Auto (LI).

FDA Panel Backs Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended Thursday night that the FDA approve the Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) coronavirus vaccine for people 16 and older. Panel members spoke positively about the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, which showed 95% effectiveness in a final-stage trial. As soon as the FDA grants emergency use approval — which will likely come Friday — a massive distribution effort will get underway, with vaccinations starting almost immediately.

Pfizer and BioNTech plan to seek full FDA approval next spring, when they will have coronavirus vaccine data for children age 12-15 as well as other groups not included in the first wave of studies.

The FDA panel will review the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Dec. 17.

Pfizer stock rose 3% overnight after closing slightly lower. BioNTech stock climbed 3% in extended trade after a 5.5% pop Thursday. Moderna stock climbed 2% after losing a fraction in the regular session.

Also after hours, Lululemon Athletica (LULU) reported a surprise profit gain. Walt Disney (DIS) touted another big gain in Disney+ subscribers as well as Star Wars content and other news at a key streaming event. Disney stock rose overnight.

Earlier, the Airbnb IPO had a big debut, skyrocketing 113% to 144.71 after pricing at 68 a share, above a raised range. Airbnb stock traded as high as 165 and as low as 141.25. That follows Wednesday’s sharp IPO stock debuts from DoorDash (DASH) and C3.ai (AI).

AMD and Apple stock are on IBD Leaderboard. AMD stock also is on the IBD 50 list.

Dow Jones Futures Today

Dow Jones futures edged lower vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.15%. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.3%.

Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.


Join IBD experts as they analyze actionable stocks in the stock market rally on IBD Live.


Coronavirus Cases

Coronavirus cases worldwide reached 70.69 million. Covid-19 deaths topped 1.58 million.

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. have hit 16.03 million, with deaths above 299,000.

Stock Market Rally

The stock market rally had a mixed session, but growth investors saw green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% in Thursday’s stock market trading. The S&P 500 index dipped 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%. But that’s after falling 1% soon after the open following Wednesday’s 1.9% tumble.

Among the best ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) rose 1.2%, while the Innovator IBD Breakout Opportunities ETF leapt 3.7%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) climbed 1.2%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) edged up 0.1%, even with AMD stock a key holding.

The rebound in growth stocks was nice to see after Wednesday’s sharp sell-off. The only downside is that instead of investors cooling their bullish sentiment, they’ll feel even more confident that the stock market rally must keep heading higher. But that is a problem for another day. On Thursday, growth investors could count their winnings.

Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.

Apple Stock In ‘Friend Zone’

Apple stock climbed 1.2% to 123.24, rebounding from the 21-day exponential moving average. Shares are back above a 122.08 early entry, but they’re still below a 125.49 buy point. On Wednesday, AAPL stock briefly topped the 125.49 entry before reversing lower. Apple stock is stuck in the “friend zone,” between two plausible buy points. You could buy it now, but you might want to wait for a decisive move above 125.49.

Note that the iPhone maker may not be a powerful winner in the current stock market rally. Apple stock is outperforming most megacap stocks, but that’s not saying much.

Twilio Stock Breaks Out, But …

Twilio stock popped 7% to 334.51, clearing a 333.72 cup-with-handle buy point after rebounding once again from its 10-week line, according to MarketSmith analysis. Investors probably could have bought Twilio around 320-326 as it cleared the bulk of its recent trading.

But after the close, the communications software maker announced plans to sell 9.5 million shares. TWLO stock fell 1% overnight.

AMD Stock Holds Buy Zone

AMD stock rose 2% on Thursday to 91.66, still in a buy zone. On Wednesday, shares fell 3.3%. Early Thursday, AMD stock briefly dipped to 89.93, just above the 88.82 double-bottom buy point and the 21-day EMA.

Lululemon Earnings

Lululemon earnings rose 21% vs. a year earlier to $1.16 a share, after two big declines in Q1 and Q2. Revenue grew 22% to $1.12 billion. Analysts forecast Lululemon earnings to fall 9% to 87 cents a share with sales up 10% to $1.01 billion.

Same-store sales sank 17%, better than views for a 22.3% drop. Comps including online sales jumped 19%, much better than consensus for 4.3%. Direct-to-consumer revenue leapt 94%.

Lululemon stock fell 1% in overnight trade. Shares climbed 1.5% to 369.07 on Thursday. LULU stock is nearing a 383.64 cup-with-handle buy point.

Disney Streaming Event

CEO Bob Chapek said paying Disney+ subscribers hit 86.8 million as of Dec. 2. That’s up from 73.7 million at the end of October. The Dow Jones entertainment giant now expects 230 million to 260 million subscribers by 2024.

The monthly subscription price will soon rise by $1, to $7.99.

Disney said it will launch 10 Marvel and 10 Star Wars shows on Disney+ in the next few years. The Dow Jones entertainment giant also said it plans further streaming expansion around the world in 2021.

Disney will launch some big movies in theaters exclusively. Others will shift to Disney+ at no cost to subscribers. Others will require a premium to view via streaming.

Disney stock rose 4% in late trade, signaling a record high. Shares edged up 0.2% to 154.89 on Thursday.

Nio Stock Falls On Share Offering

Nio stock fell 6% after the company announced plans to sell 60 million American depositary shares, after rising 2.75% on Thursday. Also after the close, Tesla said it had completed its recently announced plans to sell $5 billion worth of TSLA stock at the market. TSLA stock was active but little changed overnight. In Thursday’s session, Tesla stock briefly fell on a valuation downgraded, but rebounded for a 3.7% gain.

Over the past two weeks, Nio rivals Li Auto and Xpeng have carried out significant ADS offerings. Both Li stock and Xpeng stock came public in 2020. All three companies, along with Tesla, are spending heavily on expansion as sales ramp up.

XPEV stock and Li Auto stock also fell modestly late.

Please follow Ed Carson on Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.

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