US OPEN: Wall Street lower, but still heading for strong monthly gains

US indices launched the week in mixed moods with investors cashing in at the end of a record-breaking month. Dow Jones and S&P 500 launched 0.60% and 0.20% lower respectively while the Nasdaq is trading 0.20% higher. On the monthly terms, main US indexes are set to finish November more than 10% higher. Dow Jones is on pace for its best monthly performance since January 1987 while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are on track to book their biggest monthly gains since April as progress towards an effective coronavirus vaccine and a smooth White House transition lifted market sentiment. Meanwhile President-elect Joe Biden confirmed Janet Yellen as nominee for Treasury secretary. Reuters reported that the Trump administration considers adding add semiconductor manufacturer SMIC and oil company CNOOC to black list of Chinese companies. On the coronavirus front, US reported almost 139K new COVID-19 cases yesterday and the country's top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci already said that the US may see "surge upon a surge” of the COVID-19 in the weeks after Thanksgiving. On the data front, MNI Chicago Business Barometer dropped to 58.2 in November from 61.1 in October and below market expectations of 59. Still, figures pointed to a strong expansion in Chicago business activity. US Pending Home Sales surged 20.2% over a year earlier in October, following a 20.8% rise in September. On a monthly basis, pending home sales fell 1.1%, compared to analysts' expectations of a 1% gain, and marking the second straight month of declines.

US100 is testing the lower limit of the upward channel. If sellers manage to break below, a bigger downward correction may start. The nearest support lies at 12 070 pts and is additionally strengthened by 50 SMA ( green line). However if buyers will managed to uphold momentum then another upward impulse towards resistance at 12 400 pts could be launched. Source: xStation5

Nikola (NKLA.US) stock plunged 20.0% in premarket trading, after the battery- and hydrogen-electric vehicle maker signed smaller reworked, deal with General Motors (GM.US) that abandons plans to build the electric pickup the Badger. Also GM won’t be taking a stake in Nikola. In September, both companies announced a $2 billion deal that gave GM an 11% stake in Nikola for supplying battery and fuel cell technologies as well as producing the pickup.

Moderna (MRNA.US)— stock jumped 11% in premarket after company announced that according to new data its COVID-19 vaccine showed over 94% effectiveness. Today drugmaker is planning to request emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration.

Slack (WORK.US) stock fell over 2% in premarket trading after Barclays downgraded shares of the messaging platform to “equal weight” from “overweight”. Barclays believes that acquisition from Salesforce would cause limited upside for Slack shares.

Bank of America (BAC.US), JPMorgan (JPM.US), Goldman Sachs (GS.US)— bank stocks fell in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley (MS.US) downgraded their ratings, favoring other consumer banks heading into 2021. Both Bank of America and JPMorgan were downgraded from to “underweight” from “overweight” and Goldman Sachs to “underweight” from “equal weight.”