December S&P 500 futures are up +0.28%, and December Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures are up +0.06% this morning as U.S. Treasury yields continued to fall after this week’s soft U.S. inflation and jobs data spurred expectations among investors that interest rates have peaked.

Today, all eyes are focused on the U.S. Building Permits preliminary data in a couple of hours. Economists, on average, forecast that October Building Permits will stand at 1.450M, compared to the previous value of 1.471M.

U.S. Housing Starts data will be reported today as well. Economists foresee this figure to stand at 1.345M in October, compared to the previous figure of 1.358M.

In addition, investors will likely focus on speeches from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, Boston Fed President Susan Collins, and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly.

In the bond markets, United States 10-year rates are at 4.390%, down -1.19%.

Pre-Market U.S. Stock Movers

Gap (NYSE:GPS) surged about +18% in pre-market trading after the retailer reported upbeat Q3 results.

ChargePoint Holdings (NYSE:CHPT) tanked over -24% in pre-market trading after the EV charging network operator cut its Q3 revenue guidance and announced a new CEO.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) plunged more than -7% in pre-market trading following a Reuters report stating that the Department of Justice is reviewing the company for allegedly sending “hundreds of millions” of dollars worth of equipment to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation without the required export licenses.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) climbed over +6% in pre-market trading after the off-price retailer posted stronger-than-expected Q3 results.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) rose more than +2% in pre-market trading after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight.

Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) gained over +3% in pre-market trading after Evercore ISI upgraded the stock to Outperform from In Line.

Today’s U.S. Earnings Spotlight: Friday – November 17th

BJs Wholesale Club (BJ), Spectrum Brands (SPB), Buckle (BKE), Twist Bioscience (TWST), Destination XL Group (DXLG), Huize (HUIZ).

ANALYST RECOMMENDATIONS

Cardinal Health: JP Morgan maintains a neutral recommendation with a price target raised from $101 to $112.

Copart: Morningstar downgrades to hold from sell with a price target raised from $42 to $45.

Crowdstrike Holdings: Guggenheim maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from $191 to $228.

Equinix: Deutsche Bank maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from $800 to $820.

Expedia Group: Evercore ISI upgrades to outperform from in-line with a price target raised from $135 to $200.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated: JP Morgan maintains a neutral recommendation with a price target raised from $148 to $149.

Regions Financial Corporation: Wolfe Research maintains its outperform rating and raises the target price from $16 to $16.20.

Roblox Corporation: Wolfe Research upgrades to peerperform from underperform.

Ross Stores: BMO Capital Markets maintains its outperform rating and raises the target price from $127 to $138.

The Clorox Company: D.A. Davidson maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from $152 to $162.

Visa: Daiwa Securities maintains a neutral recommendation with a price target raised from $255 to $260.

Walmart: Citigroup maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from $180 to $190.

Warner Music Group: Goldman Sachs maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from $40 to $38.

Zoom Video Communications: Citi downgrades to neutral from sell with a target price of $66.